Magical Chronicle Lyrical Nanoha: Photon
by KaiserPhotos
Summary: Alternate timeline/universe that follows the life of Alicia T-Harlaown; daughter of Fate T. Harlaown. When an unwanted memory from her mother's past comes back to haunt the group, Alicia decides to investigate the matter personally. Note: THE REBOOT HAS BEEN POSTED!
1. The Shooting Star

"Heroas mori ... saeculum legendas Et hodie, novum est ut virago sua fode historia."

"Heroes die, but legends live forever… And today, a new heroine is about to carve her own legend."

In the magical world of Mid-Childa, there live two powerful mages by the names of Fate T. Harlaown and Nanoha Takamachi. Together, they solved many cases and assisted in the rise of many great mages. While today they live their everyday lives as members of the instructor and investigation staff respectively, Fate in particular is also the mother of a little girl named Alicia Harlaown. With a mother of such legendary status, Alicia strives to be the best in all she does, especially to prove herself to her elder sister figure, Vivio Takamachi. What she didn't realize however was that today, her chance to shine had finally come; whether she was ready for it or not. Her magical incantation is "soaring" and this is her story.

**Chapter 1: The Shooting Star**

Today was an average day in the Takamachi-Harlaown household, Fate had already left for work, Nanoha was cooking breakfast and young Alicia had woken up late for school yet again. "Ugh, I'm going to be late again!" Nanoha smiled.

"You wouldn't be late if you had just gone to bed early like we told you to Alicia-chan." She chastised teasingly.

"Mouuu," Alicia whined. "I'm not like Vivio-Onee mama! I just can't wake up this early; it's impossible!" Nanoha smiled nervously.

'I don't know where she gets this from. Fate-chan is and never was this lazy.' Sighing to herself and placing Alicia's bento in a quickly made bag, she handed it to the running in place girl before waving to her goodbye.

"Be home before dinner!" She yelled to the scurrying little girl. She heard Alicia yell,

"Okay! Thanks mama!" As she sped out the door without even closing it; leaving Nanoha alone in the house like every other morning. Eying a photo placed on their home's fireplace, one of herself standing next to Fate; the two mages behind Vivio who held a younger Alicia in her arms, she smiled to herself and said,

"What a lively family I have." Giggling, she added, "And I wouldn't have it any other way!"

(-Music begins-)

Up in the sky, unbeknownst to the average civilian as of yet, a shooting star was soaring across the sky.

(Ame no hi mo kaze no hi mo gokkan no fubuki mo shakunetsu no taiyō mo!)

Alicia ran through the streets, gracefully and yet at the same time very quickly shuffling through the crowds of people.

(Subete hibi wo irodoru zairyō hekotarenai de ishi to ai wo!)

As she ran through the crowded streets of her suburban neighborhood, she came across a large metal pipe laid out in the middle of the road, obviously some prankster's idea of a barricade to the people living in her area.

(Kimi ga kureta yasashisa wa kibishisa butsukaru koto de shitta modokashisa!)

Quickly looking around for no other way around, she found none. Seeing the time on a local clock she backed up a bit and after a moment, she began her charge toward it.

(Chigai wo mitomeru koto de hajimaru jūōmu jin odore tenchikaibyaku!)

Finally having picked up momentum at a speed that would have made her mother proud, people yelled,

"She won't make it!"

"Hey kid are you crazy?"

"Isn't that the Takamachi-Harlaown kid?" She leapt and successfully cleared the obstacle with a panicked and yet at the same time relatively relieved face; the sun shining upon her golden hair.

_**Magical Chronicle Lyrical Nanoha: Photon**_

(Hontō wa sabishikatta kimi ni au made wa!)

Running with a panicked scream, Alicia made her way through the streets. Noting an old woman sweeping outside of what appeared to be a bakery, the golden haired girl waved as she yelled, "Good morning Mrs. Rose!" The elderly woman smiled and shouted back,

(Hitori de iru hō ga kiraku nan datte usotsu iteita!)

(Suki na hon mo shumi mo maru de awanai kedo.)

"Good morning Alicia! Late again?"

"Yeah! I'll be back for break later! See ya!" The girl yelled before dashing further into the distance. Smiling to herself, the old lady asked herself,

"Given that she's the Takamachi-Harlaown child, you'd really think she'd have teleportation magic." Not hearing the comment Alicia continued on, seeing the school at last within the distance. Her eyes lit up with hope. Perhaps just this once, she wouldn't be late!

(Kimi dake da yo unazuite kureta no wa…)

(Yoroko bito kanashimi to ikari to do to re to mi to fa to so to ra to shi to do)

As she ran and came closer to her destination, a shadow appeared before her. She paled as the shadow stepped out of the light; it was Vita-sensei, one of her mother's friends and probably here to scold her for missing her combat training yesterday.

"Hey, Alicia-chan! You didn't come to practice yesterday! What? Forgot again?" Alicia gulped and despite her fear of the temperamental red-head, continued her dash forward. Laughing nervously she yelled,

(Chigawanakya dekinai HARMONY to SCENARIO!)

"Sorry Vita-sensei! I'll come today I promise! I'll even bring you bread!" Vita was surprised by being ignored, especially with her trusty partner, Graf Eisen out with her. The surprise was so great in fact that Alicia had managed to run past her. Soon realizing what had happened, Vita scoffed to herself with a chuckle as she muttered,

"Hmph, kids these days. What a pain!"

(Dare mo onaji janai!)

(Sore koso ga ikiteru imi dakara!)

Alicia had finally entered the building, kindly greeting all those she had managed to run past with the brightest of smiles she could muster.

Still continuing past people she stared at the clock and blanched.

(Toki to shite dashita oto ga fukyōwaon demo!)

"Wh-Wha? Only four minutes left! Awww man!" Continuing her mad dash she didn't notice all of the people looking outside the window yelling,

"Whoa what's that!"

"Looks like a shooting star!"

(Dakara akiramenai shinjinukeru tsuyo sa de,)

As she made her way up the stairs, only one floor left and only three minutes remaining she almost sighed in relief when she saw that she just might make it! Running through the pristine white hallways, sapphire blue tiles in every single hallway, she finally made her way towards her destination, the fourth floor!

(Tadori tsukeru sekai no hate de)

(Kimi to miru keshiki ga shinjitsu nanda)

Looking at her little black and white watch once again, she almost screamed in panic as she read the time. "O-Only one more minute left!"

(Ame no hi mo kaze no hi mo gokkan no fubuki mo shakunetsu no taiyō mo!)

(Subete hibi wo irodoru zairyō hekotarenai de ishi to ai wo!)

Running even faster, still not noticing that there was indeed a shooting star in the sky as claimed earlier, she failed to miss a mysterious white "X" appearing on her left palm as she dashed past the past the final window. Suddenly she slowed down, now completely exhausted towards that last final distance, only thirteen seconds left on the clock she could hear the teacher reading off the names on the attendance sheet, her name hadn't been called yet and they were still early on in taking role.

(Kimi ga kureta yasashisa wa kibishisa butsukaru koto de shitta modokashisa!)

With only six seconds left to get in her seat and five names left on the roster before her's she finally grabbed the door handle. "Aw man, cutting it close!" Still unaware of the white "X" on her palm she dashed into the room, quietly shutting the door behind her and entering with the stealth of a master thief.

(Chigai wo mitomeru koto de hajimaru jūōmu jin odore tenchikaibyaku!)

At last, she cleared one side of the room to the seat closest to the window at the end of the large row of chairs. As she seated herself the mark disappeared, never having been noticed by Alicia or any of her classmates. Finally, the teacher called, "Takamachi-Harlaown Alicia?" Smiling she raised her hand and rasped in a tired voice,

"Here!" The teacher snickered. She was a woman roughly about her biological mother's age with short black hair and deep, amethyst eyes.

"While I admit that you are on time with two seconds to spare and an entrance that would have made your parents proud, do try to come to class on time Ms. T-Harlaown. Perhaps then you would not require such an entrance." Alicia smiled sheepishly and nodded in acceptance…

While Alicia was busy with her everyday school life, Fate had just returned to the main office to report her findings. She was shocked however to find Nanoha already back. Raising an eyebrow, noticing no trainee in sight, she asked,

"Did I miss a day on your calendar Nanoha? I thought you were teaching today." Nanoha shook her head smiling.

"Vita-chan wanted to take them on a field trip today and I was asked to leave it to her." Fate nodded with an "Oh" shape forming on her lips. Sitting down and making herself at home, she asked,

"So did Alicia-chan wake up in time for school?" Nanoha giggled.

"I think she was late this morning but who knows? Her mommy is quite the speed demon." Fate smiled.

"Well you know, tomorrow's her birthday. Is it ready?" Nanoha nodded.

"Yeah. The R & D crew finished it just this morning. They claim it to be their finest work since their most recent upgrades on Bardiche Assault and Raising Heart Excelion!" Fate snickered.

"That's quite a claim! Let's hope she takes more after me! We don't want anyone getting blown away by a Starlight Breaker!" The two laughed hysterically before sipping down two cups of coffee that were apparently brought by a server bot that had passed by unnoticed a moment ago. Just as the two were about to catch up on the morning events, the warning signs went off. Nanoha was the first to stand. "An emergency this early?" Fate too, stood up.

"I wonder what's happened. We should go now, Nanoha." Nanoha smiled.

"Yeah, let's go!"

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes:<span>

Hi. Sorry for the random story creation everyone. I just felt like writing something a little random to spice up the Nanoha fandom. Why is Alicia only Fate's child? I'll be getting to that soon enough. This is roughly six years after FORCE so some events have been slightly altered. Fate's about 31 in this story as is Nanoha. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope none of you want to kill me for making an OC as of yet anyway. See ya next update ~

Next Time: Of Unisons and Devices


	2. An Eerie Foe

**Chapter II: An Eerie Foe **

Fate and Nanoha rushed to the observation bridge where Hayate was already awaiting their arrival. They immediately saluted their leader.

"What's going on Commander? It's unusually early for an emergency call." Nanoha asked curiously.

Hayate shook her head.

"I'm not too sure either. A strange, unidentified signal was spotted gathering a dangerous amount of power near the edge of the city, enough to eventually start a dimensional tremor. I have already sent Lieutenant Vita and Lieutenant Signum. Would you two be willing to assist?" Fate smiled.

"Of course Commander. We-" Fate's voice was interrupted by a sudden transmission.

"This is Lieutenant Vita! Requesting back up for the detaining of the target! I repeat, requesting-"

The signal was broken leaving the three aces in shock. Vita's face had been scratched just slightly, enough to cause blood to leak from her forehead. Behind her was a mysterious figure with brown hair a shade similar to Nanoha's. Fate narrowed her eyes with interest.

"Can you get the image back? Is it possible to zoom the screen in?" She asked, her eyes never once losing the still image that now replaced the static. Hayate nodded.

"Get it back and zoom the screen in." With a little computer magic the squad had done their work, zooming image to reveal a shocking new face. The aces gasped. It was a young boy roughly around Alicia's age, his eyes an eerily familiar blue. His hair was indeed similar to Nanoha's in color but worn in a medium-length wild style. His barrier jacket looked incredibly similar to Vivio's current one with the exception of the white gauntlets he wore around his forearms and the navy blue abdomen guard also shielding his entire torso. Hayate blanched, dropping her clipboard in her bewilderment.

"What? What? …My god…" Nanoha could only stare in surprise.

"No way..." Fate's stare only hardened. She said nothing as she eyed the image before her. Fate looked towards Hayate with an unreadable expression.

"You said nothing bad would come of leaving him with them." Hayate nodded agape.

"I did… But right now, I think we need to confirm our suspicions. Shari, please get a matching profile of all registered Mid-Childan magicians with this appearance. Use his magical profile if you must." Immediately punching in keys, Shari had the information up in a flash. She swiftly began to read the information.

"He is Mid-Childan mage #375291. His name is Takahiro Yuusei. His surname is shown to have been given to him as an alias. The actual family name is unavailable. Yuusei registered on the same day as Alicia-chan approximately three hours afterwards."

"The irony." Fate muttered under her breath.

"Furthermore," Shari read on, "his parents are also unknown. A biological check is apparently impossible. His DNA is not within our database. Yuusei's device is a shooting-close range hybrid called Divinium. Hey, what?" Hayate raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong Shari?" Shari shook her head.

"The next part wants you to input your security code commander. Will you?" Fate and Nanoha looked towards Hayate, knowing what had to be done. Hayate solemnly nodded as she strolled to Shari and input the code. Suddenly two final sentences appeared in red. Shari read it aloud.

"Yuusei is the product of the latest breakthrough in gene-modifying technology via Project Photon. Yuusei was one of thirteen survivors of the tests out of…" There was a pause. Hayate looked down, her features grim.

"Of how many Shari?"

"Of… one hundred seventy five test subjects." Shari finished shakily. The tension in the room suddenly grew tenfold. Shari turned around to find Nanoha and Fate looking at each other and then towards Hayate with looks filled with numerous, and yet indescribable emotions.

"We're going." Nanoha answered curtly. Fate nodded as she followed. Hayate remained where she stood. Shari was bewildered. Never had she heard Nanoha speak to Hayate in such an almost, irate manner.

"Shari," she finally spoke, "I'll explain everything but you must refrain from telling this to anyone else. What is about to be told to you is incredibly top secret. Is that understood?" Shari was unsure of what to say but eventually, she replied with a quiet but firm,

"Very well."

* * *

><p>At the scene of the incident Fate and Nanoha had found only rubble. Eventually they found Vita and Signum just barely injured but nevertheless, in good shape.<p>

"Signum!"

"Vita-chan!" The respective captains yelled as they rushed towards them. Vita frowned and huffed.

"You guys are late! What took ya?" Nanoha's face was all business.

"We were trying to ID the enemy back on base but failed to come up with anything but his name." Signum's focus was the sky.

"He was… a unique child. He looked very much like you Captain Takamachi and yet he fought in a manner very similar to Captain Testarossa."

"Did he wound either of you? Was he strong?" Nanoha asked curiously. Vita shrugged.

"I'd have to say he was decent. He reminds me a lot of you actually Nanoha. His spells constantly changed at random from mid and long range to short range. His skills in short range are reminiscent of Fate's fighting style. His physical combat skills were of Belkan status. Despite this we did a pretty good number on em towards the end. I was just hoping you'd all be here in time to assist us in capturing him." Signum nodded.

"Unfortunately as you can see, he escaped just a few minutes before you arrived here. Forgive the blunder." Nanoha smiled.

"It's fine Signum-san. I'm just glad the two of you are safe." Vita snorted.

"Us? Taken down by a mere brat? Please!"

"Still," Fate chimed, "we should attempt to capture him as soon as possible. According to the report he sounds like he could be trouble if we let him roam free." Vita crossed her arms.

"I guess. What I wanna know though is how he got that device! I thought the hybrids were available to the TSAB officials only!" Time froze. Vita paled at her own words.

"Hold on, you're on to something Vita." Fate replied quietly.

"If Yuusei has a hybrid device… Someone from the TSAB is housing him." Signum raised an eyebrow.

"Yuusei? Who is Yuusei?"

"That's the child's name." Nanoha replied. Vita's eyes lit up with interest.

"Yuusei huh? Doesn't that mean shooting star or somethin' in your language Nanoha?" Nanoha nodded. Vita's eyes narrowed.

"I don't like this…"

"Neither do I." Fate answered. Nanoha remained silent.

'What in the world could be going on here? I knew we should have asked Hayate-chan for the name and address of the doctor housing Yuusei.' Noting Fate and Nanoha's unusual behavior, Signum gave to each of them a serious stare.

"You two know more about the boy then you're letting on, don't you?" Fate didn't answer. Nanoha's bangs fell over her eyes as she tried to find an answer. Vita's eyebrows rose concernedly.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Nanoha finally answered.

"Yuusei… He's…"

* * *

><p>Some several hours later Alicia had returned home with Yuuno. It was one of those unusual days where Nanoha and Fate had to call Yuuno to assist in picking up the children. Currently, he and Alicia were discussing the day's events while Vivio and Einhart spent their time talking in Vivio's room.<p>

"So Alicia I hear that tomorrow is your birthday." Alicia nodded.

"Yeah that's right! Will you be able to come for the party Yuuno?" Yuuno smiled.

"Of course I will. I hear Einhart and Vivio have taught you some of their Belkan fighting moves yesterday." Alicia smirked.

"Yup, it was awesome!" Giggling sheepishly, she added, "But I still have a lot of work to do. I still don't really have the coordination for the exact movements." Yuuno snickered.

"Don't you worry! I'm sure you'll have it in no time. Your mother is one of the great Aces of the Bureau after all." Alicia grinned.

"Of course! Speaking of Mama, did she tell you why she's coming home late today? It was so strange you know? Even Vita-sensei called to say that she cancelled practice to work with Mama, Nanoha-mama and Signum-sensei on something so it must be really important." Yuuno shook his head.

"Sadly no she didn't. I'm sure it's because she just wants to make sure that someone out there is safe though. She did tell me to tell you that Erio-san and Caro-san are coming for your birthday tomorrow though." Alicia's eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights.

"Erio oniisan and Caro neesan? Yay! I can't wait to show them how well I'm doing!" Yuuno smiled.

"I'm sure you'll make them proud." Two pairs of footsteps made their way into the living room. They revealed themselves to be Vivio and Einhart, stopping by to raid the fridge.

"So what do you think we should do tomorrow? It's a day off." Einhart's thoughtful humming could be heard from Yuuno and Alicia's location.

"How about we go and spar down by the docks? No one really goes there on Sunday." Vivio giggled.

"True. So what do you wanna get Alicia-chan for her birthday?" Einhart's hum sounded through the living room from the kitchen. Alicia leaned in to hear her answer.

"I think we should get her a pair of armored gauntlets. They'd do nicely for upgrading the safety of her barrier jacket."

"But Alicia-chan doesn't have a device yet Ein-chan." Einhart stuttered.

"I-I thought I told you not to call me that." Vivio chuckled.

"Oops, slipped out of my mouth."

"Still, I think they'd be a good idea. If you think about it we were around Alicia's age when we got our devices. It wouldn't surprise me if Nanoha and Fate got her one." Vivio hummed.

"Gee, you have a point there. Alright! Gauntlets it is!" With that the two trekked back to Vivio's room; completely unaware of the still listening Yuuno and Alicia.

"Well, that's quite a spoiler wouldn't you say? Alicia?" Alicia smiled widely.

"Yes it is! Man I wonder now! Do you know if Mama got me a device Yuuno?" Yuuno shook his head.

"Afraid not. What I can tell you though is that your chances of getting one are high." Alicia cheered as she tightly embraced the lean man. He laughed as the door slowly opened. The sound of two voices saying,

"We're home!" sounded through the building. Immediately, Vivio rushed back down, Einhart in tow. Embracing her mother Vivio cheered,

"Welcome back Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama." Einhart smiled.

"Welcome home." Fate smiled.

"Thank you. Do either of you know where Alicia is?" The two nodded.

"I think she's with Yuuno in the living room. Oops!" Realizing their blunder Vivio flushed. Einhart smirked.

'Well we blew that one.' She remarked telepathically. Vivio grinned.

'Meh, what can we do?' It was then Vivio noted something strange. Nanoha and Fate were incredibly quiet although normal tonight.

"Hey, are you two alright?" She asked worriedly. Fate smiled.

"Yes, everything's fine. Thank you for asking though, Vivio." Vivio smiled.

"Okay!" She replied. Having finished their greetings, Vivio and Einhart followed the two aces into the living room where Alicia waited with Yuuno. After which she leapt into her mother's arms who cradled her lovingly and at this moment, almost painfully. Nanoha smiled as she watched the scene, but never once did the image of the boy with blue eyes leave her mind.

* * *

><p>"So, it appears that Excalibus-2 made a ruckus in town today." A male voice announced in a cheery tone.<p>

"Yes. He apparently met two Lieutenants in combat and was defeated. He escaped to avoid capture. Precia is displeased. What shall we do about this, Prometheus?" The grey haired boy, around the age of seventeen grinned maliciously. His crimson eyes flickered with the glint of spite itself.

"Nothing yet Pandora. Let's wait to see if Excalibus-1 becomes active any time soon. After all, everyone needs to be present for the little game to play out properly. After all, it wouldn't please our boss if the enemy died so soon." A young woman of the same age, silvery-green hair falling to her waist nodded. Her solemn red eyes seemed to agree.

"Very well then Prometheus…" With the conversation finished Prometheus looked out upon Mid-Childa from where he stood. The room was well furnished, obviously a hotel. He stood at what must have been the top floor's viewing window. Eying his bloodstained left palm, his grin widened.

"Yuusei and Alicia… Do you have what it takes to play in our little game?"

Author's Notes:

Huzzah the antagonists begin to reveal themselves! Please forgive the extreme lateness. A reply to a review from Chapter 1: The song used was the first opening of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL which is why it may have sounded familiar. I thought given how the plot of the story will unfold it was a song with fitting lyrics for the start. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the latest release of Magical Chronicle Lyrical Nanoha: Photon.


	3. The Shocking Discovery

Chronicle III: The Shocking Discovery

Alicia woke with a start, today was finally the day. Her birthday always fell on the weekend. It was a fact that Alicia had a large habit of milking for all it was worth. Grinning she stretched her arms and unleashed a thunderous yawn. A voice yelled,

"Alicia-chan? Finally awake?" She recognized the voice as her mother's. "Come down for breakfast sweety!"

Alicia smiled. Nanoha always made her favorite blueberry pancakes for breakfast on her birthday. Alicia nearly dashed to her closet as she hastily threw on her outfit for the day. Today she was dressed in a black and white skirt with a similar themed open top. Beneath it she wore an icy-blue t-shirt. Finally dressed she made her way down the stairs and to the table where her godmother, her actual mother, Vivio and to her half-surprise Einhart were all waiting for her.

"Happy birthday Alicia-chan!" They all cheered. Alicia smiled brightly.

"Thanks everyone!" She replied loudly as she ran to her seat. Surely enough there were her favorite blueberry pancakes. She was half ready to dig into her meal when Vivio suddenly intercepted her hand with her own.

"Would you like to start opening some of your presents early?"

Alicia raised an eyebrow. While she was all for opening presents usually her parents made her wait until the actual party.

'This is going to be an interesting birthday.' She thought to herself with surprise. Nodding she answered, "Sure!" Smiling, Einhart handed her a small package wrapped in silvery-green paper. Einhart giggled.

'I think you already know what it is but please enjoy it.' Alicia nodded as she tore the silvery-green package open. Just as she had heard yesterday they were gauntlets. They were very similar to the ones her sister wears and yet they had the knuckle guards that Einhart's have. She let out a hearty squeal.

"Thanks Einhart-chan! Thanks Onee-chan!" Vivio snickered.

"What're you talking about Alicia-chan? That's just from Ein-chan." Einhart felt a vein pop on her head. Still, her typical composure remained. On a private telepathic line, Einhart growled.

'You will pay for that Vivio.' Vivio smiled sweetly from the other side of the table. Instead of answering, she ignored Einhart and handed Vivio a dark blue and purple package.

"This is from me Alicia-chan. Hope you like it." Alicia smiled as she tore the package open. This time, she found a black and silver jacket within the package. Her eyes widened. It was the same jacket she had been eying a few weeks ago at the local clothing store.

"Th-Thanks Onee-chan!" Vivio smiled.

"You're welcome kiddo." With the pleasantries finished. Einhart stood from her seat.

"Vivio, if you'd please." She almost commanded. Vivio stood with a cheeky grin.

"Sure, I could use the morning exercise." The grin was returned.

"Just don't make sure to get the wind knocked out of you this time." Einhart teased. Vivio flushed.

"I-I just wasn't ready that time!" Vivio yelled. Einhart replied in a similar manner to Vivio's response earlier this morning by completely ignoring the retort with a smile. Annoyed, Vivio followed the silver-green haired girl out of the house and into the backyard. With the two gone, Fate and Nanoha stood from their chairs.

"Alicia-chan, Mommy and I will be home later today around lunch. We'll be back real soon okay?" Nanoha announced.

"Okay." Alicia answered happily, slipping on her gloves all the while. Fate smiled.

"Now remember Alicia to take good care of those and to be good while we're gone. I promise that we'll be back as soon as possible. Erio and Caro will be here soon." Alicia beamed, answering by running up to embrace the two women by their thighs. Smiling, the two bent lower to return the embrace. With the tender moment finished the two left, leaving Alicia alone in the house. As she clenched a fist with her new gauntlets she muttered cheerily,

"They've got a real firm fit. It's nice." Not being a practitioner of the Modern Belkan or Ancient Belkan styles, Alicia was never able to grasp fighting as well as her friends. In all around combat it was considered a weakness for her. Finding her way to the glass sliding door, Alicia made her way outside to watch the still going sparring match between Vivio and Einhart. They were matching each other blow for blow and no one had managed to land an actual hit yet.

Alicia watched them with great enthusiasm. Their skill was on a whole other level. While her mother and god mother may be two of the greatest magicians of their age, Vivio and Einhart were two of the greatest knights of their age with Vivio following in Hayate's footsteps in becoming the next great Mage-Knight. Finally after what was actually a few hours, a hit was landed. In a blur of motion Vivio had managed to strike Einhart clear in the chest with her fist. Einhart staggered back as Vivio huffed heavily. Einhart smirked.

"What? It took that much just to land a solid punch?" Vivio smiled.

"I'm… Just… Warming up!" Einhart's features became hard as she sharply dodged Vivio's lunge, striking Vivio with her Haou Arts: Danku Ken at point-blank range. Vivio spiraled backwards, sailing through the air until eventually striking land. She cringed and coughed, but eventually picked herself up, returning to her fighting stance. Einhart sighed.

"You're endurance has improved but you're recovery is still sort of sloppy. Let's work on that a little more tomorrow." Vivio nodded.

"Y-Yeah." She replied shakily. "Geez Ein-chan that punch of yours is really somethin' else." Einhart almost flushed.

"I-It… Still needs work." She said softly. Einhart sauntered towards Vivio as their barrier jackets disappeared, returning them to their usual outfits. With their bodies finally matured into those of adults, Asteion and Sacred Heart reappeared much sooner than they used to, their adult bodies still present. Alicia clapped.

"That was amazing! Einhart-san just ducked and nailed Onee-chan right in the gut! It was so cool!" Vivio chuckled sheepishly while Einhart beamed at the praise.

"Looks like you two are active as ever." A male voice teased. Turning around, the three found Erio and Caro waiting for them by the glass door. Vivio grinned.

"Better than ever!" Caro giggled.

"We can see that!" Noticing the little girl directly in front of them, Erio ruffled Alicia's hair and said,

"Happy birthday Alicia." Alicia smiled.

"Thank you nii san." Caro waved a red and pink package to get her attention.

"I'll place this on the table for later this afternoon."

"Okay!" Alicia replied. Noticing her gloves, Erio asked,

"Hey, get new gauntlets? Those are really nice."

"She needed gauntlets to make actual use of her Strike Arts practice. The gloves they use for basic practice just aren't anything close to the real thing." Einhart answered. Erio nodded.

"I see. Well that sounds cool! Hey, where's Fate-san and Nanoha-san?"

"At work, they'll be back in an hour." Vivio answered coolly. Alicia gaped.

"What? That much time went by already!" She yelled bewildered. Vivio giggled.

"Yup, we spent a lot of time out here today. Wanna go back inside?" Looking at her friends she added telepathically, 'Erio, Caro, Ein-chan, my room after we give Alicia something to do." The three nodded. Alicia tilted her head, having been unable to eavesdrop on the conversation. Patting her head, Erio asked,

"Alicia-chan, would you mind going to your room and playing some games for awhile? We have something we need to talk about." Alicia smiled knowingly.

"Okay." She replied. Without quarrel she left for her room, leaving the teens to all retreat to Vivio's room. Their meeting soon began.

"So, what's up Vivio?" Erio asked curiously.

Vivio crossed her arms. "Well, you see there's a problem. Mama said that there's a new troublemaker on the block and he's causing a lot of trouble. She's discussing the details about him today with Fate-mama and the others."

Caro raised an eyebrow. "What's bad about that? We used to talk about that stuff at meetings all the time when we were in Riot Force 6."

Einhart nodded. "But did she ever walk out the door or come in with a tense composure? Nanoha-san and Fate-san have been acting strangely all morning. They said they'll be back after they discuss what to do about the situation. They've been like this since yesterday."

Erio too crossed his arms. His right hand released itself to scratch his head. "Wow… That is pretty weird. Fate-san never gets tense about something like that unless it's really bad."

Caro's struck a pensive pose. "Well… Normally they bring home a picture of the suspect though if there's one on a TSAB camera. Did you guys happen to see if they left anything on the table today?"

Vivio placed her finger on her lips. "No. Mama never leaves important stuff like that out normally. But you know what she did come home with a single data disk yesterday though. It's been on the table ever since she came home last night. I wanted to look at it but Fate-mama would always direct me elsewhere."

Erio tensed. 'Something's not right about this.' He thought to himself. 'Why would they try so hard to avoid letting Vivio see a regular ol' TSAB criminal data disk? To make matters even more mysterious they're behaving real strangely. I wonder if it's got anything to do with _that_ project.' Looking to Caro on a private line he asked, 'Hey Caro, remember the incident nine and a half months before Alicia was born? Project Photon?'

Caro nodded, noting that the Vivio and Einhart obviously couldn't hear him. 'Yeah, I do, why? It was a terrible disaster and many mid-childan children died while they were still in their embryos. Hey wait a sec, wasn't Alicia-'

'Hey, don't be so obvious that you're serious. You'll make the girls suspicious. Anyway, I have a feeling whoever this is, is probably another survivor of the project. There were thirteen. Alicia's one of em.'

Caro suddenly stood. "Hey, Vivio, Einhart, come with me and Erio. I wanna go and look at the disk.' She said smiling.

Erio's face quickly changed to one of panic. 'Are you crazy?' He yelled mentally. 'What if it is a survivor? Or something worse? We could be looking at really classified stuff Caro! We could get in huge trouble if we're caught!'

Caro shifted her gaze towards him. 'Don't you wanna know why Fate-san's acting so strangely? It has to be really bad for them to behave this way. If we can help, I want to do my best but I can't do anything if I don't even know what's going on.'

Erio paused. He said nothing but finally made his way to the door. Looking at her he answered, 'Have it your way.' He motioned to the still sitting girls. 'C'mon let's go take a look.' Nodding to each other and then to Erio, the two stood and followed him and Caro out the door and into the living room. To their surprise, Alicia was nowhere in sight. In fact, her video games were going full blast along with her random cheers whenever something good would happen. Carefully eying his surroundings, Erio eventually found a data disk labeled Photon-XIII on the top. It was labeled with the TSAB seal. It was exactly what they were looking for. Picking it up without a word, he slipped it into a slot in Strada. "Gather around the table everyone." He ordered. "I'm gonna have Strada play the data back to us." The group followed him to the table as he began the play back. Slowly, mere walls of text appeared with no audio whatsoever.

'A soundless track? They really wanted to make sure this stuff wasn't leaked.' Caro mentally remarked.

'Well it just did.' Erio replied. They began to read the text:

[Photon XIII – Actual Data –

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Brown

Barrier jacket: White with some blue, mostly black underneath

Device name: Divinium

Magic System: Elysian

Mana Conversion Affinity: Flame

Mana Color: Deep red

Details: This particular child was incredibly successful in terms of containing his own power however he was later struck with a heart disease that pains him whenever he performs magic. The young boy is currently in the custody of Dr. Achilles.] The play back suddenly stopped.

"Hey, what gives?" Caro and Erio blinked.

[Please present a TSAB ID to view the final piece of information.] The two officers looked at each other, hesitation evident in the other's eyes. Eventually Erio pulled out his own card and displayed it before the holographic screen. After a shorn scan, it replied,

[TSAB ID confirmed: Erio Mondial. This information must be kept secret if anything please attempt to read this by yourself if possible.] The group ignored the message.

"Why would it want you to look at it alone?" Vivio asked curiously.

Erio crossed his arms. "I'm asking myself the same question." He answered. Finally, the last piece appeared. They all gasped. This one came with a picture. It was of a boy with wild, medium length brown hair and deep, blue eyes; eerily familiar blue eyes."

Vivio was the first to take a step back. "N-No… No way…" She muttered bewildered.

"There's more…" Einhart noted as the computer screen began to write. They all watched as a single page of information printed itself across the screen:

[Alias: Takahiro Yuusei

True Name: Takamachi Yuusei

Known Parent: Takamachi Nanoha

Origins: Magically created embryo

Survivor #XIII of Project Photon

…And currently wanted by the TSAB for attempted time-space disruption. His termination has been ordered upon capture. He is wanted alive or dead.]

Erio felt a chill run up his spine. "Th-This is…"

Einhart seemed almost too appalled to speak. Finally, she turned to the now completely pallid Vivio. "You didn't know a thing about this did you?" She asked quietly.

Vivio fought the urge to cry out in frustration. Instead she could only stare blankly at the sudden reality before her. "I have a little brother… And they want him dead…" She muttered quietly.

Caro strolled to her side and patted her back, careful not to say anything. In the mean time Erio shut off the disk and placed it exactly where it had been on the table, even going as far as to place it in the same position. The air was tense in the room and no one spoke for several minutes. Finally, Caro started. "S-So… What're we gonna do?"

Erio shook his head. "I… Don't really know myself. There's a lot about this that's just bugging me. And what the heck is an Elysian magic system?"

Einhart crossed her arms. "No idea. I've only heard of the Mid-Childan and Modern and Ancient Belkan magic systems. On the topic of the boy, Yuusei, perhaps we should try to intercept him next time. Maybe we can get him to come back quietly."

Caro shook her head. "Sadly we can't do that. It says they want him terminated upon capture. That means even if we manage to hide him here for a few days after detaining him and getting answers, if someone from the higher ups finds him they'll kill him. Of course Nanoha-sensei and Fate-san would never but it's just too dangerous…"

"So what's the plan then? We wouldn't even know where to find him to begin with. It's not like we can just walk up to him and ask him about this either. He might not even know what we're talking about." Vivio chimed.

Suddenly the door creaked open. "We're home!" Echoed through the house as Nanoha and Fate made their way into the living room to find the four teenagers who were tense mere moments ago relaxing as they raided Nanoha's fridge.

Einhart and Vivio looked up from their soda cans. "Welcome back." They said cheerily.

"Where's Alicia?" Fate asked curiously.

Erio chuckled. "Ah, Alicia-chan decided to go play some games for awhile. She got bored listening to us talk." Walking up to Fate, he and Caro embraced her gently as they said, "It's good to see you again Fate-san."

Fate smiled. "It's wonderful to see you two as well."

Nanoha smiled as she held a box wrapped in blue and white and another in black and red. "Well the party will be starting soon so get ready everyone. Try not to eat too much. Fate-chan made tart."

"Okay!" The four answered. With that the two aces made their way up the stairs and out of sight. As soon as they were out of earshot, the four simultaneous went, "Phew." Immediately on a private group line they all began their conference once again.

"So what's the plan?" Einhart asked this time.

Erio crossed his arms smiling. "For now, we enjoy the party. But, after this," his features fell, leaving an almost curious shine in his now serious eyes. "We need to have a talk with Fate-san and Nanoha-sensei about this tonight."

* * *

><p>Author's Notes:<p>

Somewhat of an obvious throw in but I hope you enjoyed the read.


	4. The Truth

Chronicle IV: The Truth

The party had gone just like any other of Alicia's birthday parties. The Yagami family along with Miura came to visit, Lindy, Arf, Chrono, Amy and Alicia's cousins arrived with Yuuno about three minutes later, some of Vivio's friends came over two minutes from then, Subaru and Teana were about five minutes late as usual, and the cake had only come out when the last of the guests had arrived. Everything seemed completely normal with the exception of an unusually quiet Nanoha, and a slightly stoic Fate. They cheered up whenever someone came to talk to them but those closest to them knew something was wrong.

Hayate took the initiative on confronting them about an hour after Alicia ate the cake. "Hey guys, I just wanted to say I'm-"

Nanoha stopped her. "It's fine. Did you happen to look at the status of certain members of that project?" Nanoha stressed the word certain, and Fate did not look in the slightest bit pleased.

Hayate nodded. "I'm actually fighting with them to change that but there are apparently certain members of the higher ups who refuse to budge on the manner."

Fate's features darkened. "It's not just him you know, I heard I, II as well as V were ordered for termination as well. I'm surprised you don't seem bothered yourself Hayate."

Hayate raised an eyebrow. "Of course I'm upset but why's that Fate-chan?"

Fate sighed. "They also ordered XI to be terminated as well."

Hayate's face became solemn, almost depressed. "I… saw that." Her voice became quiet. From that, Fate saw that maybe she had been a bit harsh.

Nanoha crossed her arms. "We're not getting anywhere like this. I suppose we talk it over tonight after Alicia opens her presents and goes to bed tonight. The disk is in my room after a-" Nanoha paused in panic. She looked to find the disk detailing Yuusei exactly where she had left it on the table. "…Crap."

Fate smiled nervously. "Don't worry, I don't think Vivio and Einhalt could have-"

"Erio and Caro are here remember? They could have opened the files." Nanoha interjected.

Hayate looked around to find Erio watching not how they were talking but instead their body language, and Vivio making poor attempts to try and eavesdrop with apparently no success judging by the look of struggle on her face. "I would… Say they saw it."

Fate sighed. "How about we open the presents now? We can talk after the presents. Everyone usually goes home after that anyway. Chrono and Lindy know already. But, Hayate, I think the knights have every right to know about this too. Signum and Vita have already seen one of them so there's no point in hiding it."

Hayate nodded. "Yeah, let's do that. I can have them stay a little late tonight. Mind if we crash here? Sounds like this is gonna be a long talk."

Nanoha smiled, her radiance returning. "Sure!" Walking out into the crowd, she waved her hands towards the couch. "Hey guys! Time for Alicia to open presents!"

"Presents!" A cheery Alicia yelled loudly. Dashing for her spot on the floor next to the presents she had amazingly managed to slide between Signum's legs.

Signum smiled nervously. "She may look like you Testarossa, but she's far more… energetic."

Fate smiled nervously, a sheepish laugh being her only reply.

Moments later everyone was seated and Alicia tore into the first box. It had come from the Yagami family specifically. Her eyes almost glowed. "Wah! Is this, a ground forces uniform?"

Hayate smiled. Poor Alicia, she didn't realize that all Hayate wanted was someone new to try on her outfits. Alicia unfortunately was all too willing to play along. "I'm glad you like it. I can't wait to see you try out the new costu- I mean, uniform."

Alicia cheered. "Thank you guys!" While she easily could have listed the entire clan, she felt it best to thank them collectively.

Signum smiled almost pitifully. 'She had no idea what evil she has just unleashed upon herself.' Signum thought to herself sympathetically.

Vita snickered. 'Ah well, at least you'll be off the hook for a while! Right Signum?'

Signum smirked. 'You have a point Vita.' She replied with rising excitement.

As Signum began to daydream of her short vacation from her beloved master's hobby, Alicia began to tear into her new present. This one was from Miura. Again she found fascination in the item but this time, curiosity overtook her rather than joy. 'Hey, these are leg guards! Hm, two presents that are parts to an armor… No way!' Eying the present from Fate and Nanoha to herself, Alicia's eyes gleamed with hope. "Thanks Miura-san!"

Miura giggled. "You're welcome Alicia-chan!"

The little girl wasted no time in moving onto the gift from Corona and Rio. It was a rectangular box with something clanging around inside. Alicia raised an eyebrow. 'This seems a tad _too _coordinated.' Opening the next box, she found a guard plate for her core, very similar to the one Vivio wears in her adult mode. 'I was right!' She mentally yelled. 'Now all we need is the jacket really and I'd be able to store this in a device for later. Maybe I'll use these for ideas for a barrier jacket!' Not wanting to waste time she moved on to her next present, this one was from Grandma Lindy and Arf. Opening it she beamed. The present was normal but it was one of the more childish things on her wish list. It was the new PlayStation Vita game system that had recently come out. She was so proud that it had been named after her aunt Vita. "Yay! Thank you Grandma Lindy! Aunt Arf!"

Lindy smiled and gave the little girl a pat on her head. "You're welcome dear."

Arf beamed. "You're welcome kid! Knock yourself out!"

Alicia giggled, hugging the large wolf girl. An "Awwwww" surged through the room as a horde of cameras swarmed in on the originally tender moment and lights flashed away at the pair, leaving Alicia dizzy and Arf completely blinded for a full minute.

Chrono stepped forward to ruffle his niece's hair. "Happy birthday kiddo." He said.

Alicia nodded, gratefully accepting the gift he held in his hands. Tearing into it she found yet another item on the wish list, an iPod. Alicia thought for a second she almost saw her mother face palm.

Vivio chuckled. It had taken forever for her to acquire an iPod but after using her cutesy side to appeal to Fate's motherly senses, she had easily gotten one of respectable gig count. It was a shame Nanoha had found out and "punished" Fate for it the following evening.

Indeed Vivio was right. Fate had very vivid memories of that night. It had been a long time since Nanoha had ever been annoyed with her like that. 'Chrono probably got that for her as a gag. Stupid Onii-chan.'

'No, it's your fault for being tricked by a little girl.' Fate almost gasped at the sudden message, looking over to a smirking Chrono, a giggling Nanoha, and a grinning Vivio, who quickly revealed the small item in question and placed it back into her pocket. As usual, Fate blushed a deep red and whined aloud.

Completely ignoring the scene before her, Alicia had gone on to accepting the next box, this time from Yuuno. She had been curious. Yuuno had hinted that she would obtain a device this year or that her chances of it were high. Maybe he got her something for it. Opening the box she couldn't have been more wrong. Her shock was replaced by awe as she pulled out of the much larger box a small, white jewelry box with green outlining.

The young librarian smiled. "Go on and open it, it won't bite."

The girl did as she was told, opening the box to find a small locket inside shaped like Bardiche but perhaps a tad larger than him. Opening the locket she found a small picture of the entire group at their picnic a few months ago. Shari had volunteered to take the picture for them. The only addition to the group was Nanoha's family who had sat right beside Nanoha, their smiles warm and glowing in the summer sun. Alicia gave Yuuno a hug. "Thank you Uncle Yuuno, I really love it. I'll take real good care of it. I promise."

Yuuno returned the hug. "You're welcome Alicia-chan." Again, flashes blurred the room, blinding the ferret changeling and the young blonde.

Alicia could barely contain her excitement, only two presents remained. She had decided to open the one from Subaru and Teana. This one was exactly what she had been anticipating: it was the main jacket to a barrier jacket. This one was actually styled very similar to Hayate's top jacket. However, the colors were exactly like that of Fate's original barrier jacket as a child. It wasn't too bulky but it had more protection than even her mother's at that age.

Subaru gave her a thumbs up. "We wanted to make sure you stayed safe while you fought! This oughta keep you intact just as well as Hayate-san's jacket does." She exclaimed in a cheery voice.

Teana smiled. "This jacket's made for bulk and speed. It will let you go as fast as your mom but you'll be able to take maybe one more hit than she can in the sonic form. Just be careful though, it's still a pretty fragile jacket. Nanoha's Divine Buster and Signum's Purple Lightning Flash can easily tear this thing open." She explained.

Alicia nodded. "Un! Thank you!" Hugging the two, she quickly slid the jacket on and took a picture between the two girls. Subaru held Teana around the waist as the picture was taken, causing the gunslinger to blush bright red as she tried to hold in her embarrassment.

After the moment had settled, the final present sat before Alicia. This one was from her mothers. She had waited for this all day. She was so excited she could barely breathe as she slowly, almost tensely took the wrapping paper off of the package. It revealed a steel colored canister. She was prompted to identify herself.

[Please place your dominant hand's thumb onto the blue screen to identify yourself.] Alicia did as she was told. The machine began to read off a few random facts. [User: Alicia Takamachi-Harlaown. Magic System: Mid-Childa. Confirm?]

Alicia nodded. "Yes!" She replied.

[Affirmative, releasing device, serial XGS-001: Caliburn to registered user Alicia Takamachi-Harlaown.] The canister's lid popped open, the lid slowly unscrewing as steam filled the room. Slowly as the smoke cleared, Alicia stood at the center of the room holding a small, navy blue and black sword pendant.

She stared in awe. "Th-This is?..."

Fate nodded. "Your own device. Shari and the crew made this special for you. Nanoha-mama and I requested it for you."

Nanoha smiled. "Vivio and Einhalt helped with the design while Erio and Caro chose the colors. You could say it's a little something from all six of us."

Alicia was far too pleased to express herself with words. She merely jumped up and down while frantically hugging her mother. "Thank you mamas! Thank you!"

Fate embraced her daughter and smiled. "You're welcome Alicia." Seeing the fun was over, and that Alicia was very excited to try her new things, all of the guests with the exception of Arf, Chrono, Lindy, the Yagami family, and Yuuno had left."

* * *

><p>An hour later, after telepathically explaining the situation to Chrono, Hayate sighed. "We'll be down soon though, don't worry. But, I want you guys to watch Alicia for us, it may be awhile." Looking towards Vivio, Einhalt, Erio, and Caro, she added, "I don't think they are too pleased with not being informed about all of this."<p>

Chrono crossed his arms. "To be honest, I'd be kind of mad too." He answered softly. "Look, we'll watch her you guys. Just go up and let them in on everything."

Looking to her knights for a brief second, Hayate quickly saluted Chrono. "Very well, sir."

Chrono laughed. "Very well."

With that the four teens, Nanoha, Fate, and the Yagami family made their way up the stairs and into Nanoha and Fate's bedroom not much had changed since they had first brought Vivio home except maybe the extra bed they had brought in during Alicia's terrible twos. There were several chairs and a lot of space on the bed. Everyone sort of took a spot and gathered around Hayate who had taken the center of the room with a chair of her own.

"Are we all here?" She asked first. Everyone nodded. She sighed. "Alright, for those who aren't entirely aware, we are here today to discuss a potentially dangerous matter. Now, who here is familiar with Project Photon?" Most hands were raised with the exception of the knights. "Well then, the basics of the project were simple: to utilize ideas from Project Fate in order to create genetically engineered soldiers for combat in the TSAB. Some of which were created with the DNA of some of the TSAB's greatest mages including Fate T. Harlaown, Takamachi Nanoha, and myself, Yagami Hayate." For a moment she thought Vita was going to burst out, but she seemed too shocked to speak.

Signum crossed her arms. "So someone in the TSAB was using Project Fate to not clone but actually make children with certain powers or abilities?"

Hayate nodded. "Exactly." She answered.

Erio's face twisted, his features revealing an unusual glint of anger. "So they're making kids like me, but just for the sole purpose of using them as war machines?"

Fate did not seem any more amused than Erio, her features slightly darkening at the mention of Project Fate.

Hayate nodded. "Unfortunately yes. Thankfully, the project was deemed unethical and was decided against."

Signum huffed. "Unethical indeed."

Hayate held her hand up. "That's not all. While it was initially declined, two months later the project was put back on rails. Nanoha, Fate, and Myself were first requested to donate blood at the local blood bank for what we were told was a blood drive hosted by the TSAB. We couldn't possibly have been anymore wrong."

The air in the room stiffened. Vivio looked around, she was still somewhat lost. "What? What happened Mama?" She looked towards Nanoha for answers. Nanoha only looked away, seeming almost too ashamed to answer.

"Then, they asked from something else: three egg cells from each of us for what they claimed was some form of new cell research using egg cells. It was never elaborated on as to what they would be used for but at that moment, we knew something was wrong." Hayate answered.

Einhalt raised an almost disturbed eyebrow, Erio's face went from angered to confused, while Shamal seemed to be piecing everything together.

"So they?" She began.

"Yes." Hayate answered. "From those three cells from each of us, one egg cell each had been converted into sperm through chromosomal-cell change, a new kind of science Mid-Childa's been working on to allow for same sex couples to have children. Obviously since it's done through machine, it's not exactly perfect. A week later, we had found out that one of Fate's eggs had been fertilized by one of Nanoha's well, 'sperm'."

Erio seemed too taken aback now. "So what you're trying to tell us is-"

"Yes Erio, Fate and Nanoha do have a biological daughter." Everyone stopped for a moment.

"Hayate-san, why did you not use Alicia-chan's name when you said that just now?" Einhalt asked quietly.

Everyone looked from Einhalt to Hayate. "Well, the best way I can answer that is because that particular child is not Alica."

Vita actually gasped, Signum's eyes widened somewhat, Erio seemed to be understanding something, while Caro raised her hand to ask a question. "W-Wait a second Captain! If Alicia-chan's not their daughter, then who is-"

"She is Fate's daughter but she is not their daughter." Hayate answered quickly. Caro ceased her questioning. "That first child, the first success using two above AAA rank mage's DNA to create a child with special talents had been a success. The child had been placed within Fate's womb a day after we had received that call. As you can guess it was born healthy, a young girl who could easily pass for Alicia's twin but with even from a young age, the Takamachi smile. She also had Nanoha's nose. Her name was Ivory, Ivory Takamachi-Harlaown. Or according to the project: Project Photon XII."

Nanoha still hadn't said a word. Caro didn't like where this was going. Neither did Vivio. "Ne, Mama, where did Ivory-chan go then? Mama?"

Nanoha finally spoke, her voice so grim it gave even Signum chills. "They… They took her away Vivio."

No one said anything to that. It was rare to hear the White Devil sound so… lost.

It was Signum's turn to question. "Testarossa, I hate to ask this of you but I want to know, where did they take the child?"

Fate looked down towards her shoes. "That's just it Signum-san, we just don't know. We even chased them through Mid-Childa, Hayate-chan even helped us but somehow they had escaped. We think they had an escape ship waiting for them somewhere on the outskirts of town. They picked a great time too. You and Vita were mobilized with the forwards that day, remember? I was also still recovering so I wasn't fast enough to do anything… I couldn't do anything." Fate's voice cracked just slightly on her last four words.

Erio clenched a fist. "How dare they do that to Fate-san… If I find these bastards they're toast!" Lightning began to surge from his body but he quickly received a chastising glance from Signum.

"Erio, you'd do well to calm down."

"But!"

"No buts! This is a delicate matter. Letting your emotions grasp control won't do you any good right now."

Erio looked away. He knew Signum was right but to see two people who meant so much to him in so much pain just churned something deep inside him. Whatever it was, he didn't like it.

Vivio said nothing. 'It all makes sense now.' She thought to herself. 'There was that one time Fate-mama took a yearlong trip to another planet. Nanoha-mama visited her at least once every month. So that's why…' Vivio was at a loss. She wanted to ask her mothers why. She wanted to know why no one told her. She wanted to know why she wasn't there to protect her baby sister. Suddenly, a thought rang out in her mind. 'Wait but then Nanoha-mama did the same exact thing a year later! So then-'

Hayate took the silence as the signal to go on. "A few months later, they somewhat employed Nanoha for the job. She accepted with the same results but this time, the baby was confiscated by the TSAB after a week for reasons they refused to disclose."

Signum cringed. "How cowardly."

Vita scowled. "Unforgiveable."

Hayate nodded. "But because we never had substantial evidence to prove anything, the TSAB's case won out and the child, Yuusei was taken to a local doctor for research."

Erio shivered. He remembered those dark days in the research facility. They were dark days, terribly dark days. He didn't want anyone to have to go through that. However, he finally started to get the idea. 'So then after Ivory and Yuusei, they tried again.'

"After the first two incidents, when Fate was called up again, this time having just Fate as the mother. They wanted to try the same experiment from before but Nanoha-chan at the moment was…" Looking sympathetically towards her dear friend, she continued, "in no condition to bear such stress. She had suffered more than enough. Fate-chan however was willing to try a last time. This time however, we were ready for them." She remembered that day so well, it was almost painful. "We had Yuuno seal the entire hospital with a barrier; we had Einhalt and Vivio waiting outside, Signum that was the day I had you outside of the hospital. Vita, if you remember we were with Nanoha and Fate at the time."

Vita nodded. "Yeah I remember. I had no idea Fate-san could scream so loud. It was incredible!" Fate flushed at the remark.

Hayate merely shook her head with a giggle. "Anyway, the child born as a result from that is the Alicia we all know and love today. Due to all of the legal processes I had Captain Chrono and former Captain Lindy set up prior to the birth, the baby was protected and we still have custody of the child to this day."

Erio crossed his arms. "What still confuses me is how they swindled Yuusei legally. I mean, can they seriously do that?"

Hayate frowned. "It was entirely under a fake medical record that claimed he had certain medical needs that were located only in a certain hospital and that his mothers were non-compliant in allowing him entry into that hospital. They claimed since he was not yet competent they as his health care providers had more authority and say over his family who supposedly didn't have his best interests in mind."

Einhalt frowned. "That's just… so cruel."

Nanoha and Fate said nothing. The room was actually dead quiet. Finally, a hand was raised. Surprisingly, it was Zafira's hand.

"Go ahead Zafira." Hayate answered.

Zafira nodded. "Mistress, you've mentioned a great deal of important information to us but you also mentioned that you had to give cells and blood too correct? If so, then why were you never called in? I'm sure they would easily have wanted to clone someone of your rank."

Signum nodded. "It makes sense."

Vita growled. "If they laid their dirty hands on Hayate I'll clobber em'!"

Shamal sighed. "As much as we'd all love for you to do that Vita we'd probably get in trouble."

Vita turned to Shamal. "Huh? Why? Look at what they're doing! They've torn an entire family apart and for what? A tricked out science experiment? They're kids! Not toys!"

Signum huffed. "That's correct but these ideas were obviously passed by higher ups. Meaning, someone in the higher ranks is letting all of this happen and covering his tracks very, very well. If it's someone in high standing, we could easily be detained for opposing him and then what?"

Vita let out another growl but slowly sank in her chair, sighing in defeat.

Hayate finally readied herself to speak. "You're right Zafira, I was called in and that was that ten month vacation I went on twelve years ago, remember? I too, delivered. I named my little girl Sora but she, just like Yuusei was taken away under the same pretense. Due to my status among many higher ups, it was hard for me to even argue. In the end, I lost and Sora was taken from me." Hayate did a better job of holding up but no one could deny the sheer amount of sorrow leaking from her eyes. The room was quiet. Everything seemed to pause for eons. It seemed as if the story was finally over.

Nanoha chuckled, almost darkly. "So, now you all know."

Signum nodded. "I… am very sorry to all three of you for what has transpired."

The room shifted back to silence. No one knew what to say. Finally, Vivio raised her fists, bringing them together as her mana built around her. "We're gonna get them back." She said lowly.

Einhalt nodded. "I would dishonor the Kaiser Arts if I didn't help Vivio recover these important people."

Hayate smiled. "I admire your courage but, we can't take this so lightly Vivio-chan, Einhalt-chan. We don't even know where to find them. It would take some luck to randomly run into them long enough for-"

*BOOM!*

The room shook. It felt like a dimensional tremor. Everyone in the room immediately stood from their seats.

"Wh-What the heck was that?" Caro yelled.

Erio readied Strada. "Sounds to me like we won't have to wait too long for that chance after all." Another tremor shook the room, knocking some of the group off of their feet. Chrono soon burst into the room with Arf and Lindy, Alicia following behind them.

"Is everyone alright?" Chrono yelled. Everyone nodded.

Alicia looked up to the taller adults. "What's happening?" She yelled.

"Dimensional tremor! Alicia, we need you to go to your room for now! We'll be home in about an hour!" Fate answered.

Alicia gaped. "What?" She yelled. "Aw man! I was going to show you my barrier jacket! I just finished everything!"

Fate gave her daughter a hug. "And we'll be right back to see it. Please be a good girl okay?"

Reluctantly, Alicia nodded. "Fine." With that settled, most of the group set out for the mission, with Chrono leading Alicia to her room. Little did the older mage know, Alicia had a plan…

* * *

><p>In the streets of central Mid-Childa, crimson flames were sprouting up from beneath the ground at astonishing rates. At the center of it all was the young boy with blue eyes and the wild brown hair. Floating above him was the young grey haired man, seeming to be riding a three headed black dog. "Can I leave the rest to you, Yuusei? It seems I will be busy helping Pandora entertain the TSAB mages."<p>

The boy nodded. "Yeah… Go right ahead Prometheus."

Prometheus laughed aloud. "Oh come on kid! You gotta lighten up a little! Let yourself go! Take any frustration you have out on the city! You have a whole hour to do so."

"…" Yuusei said nothing.

Prometheus scowled. "You're a real boring brat you know! It's no wonder your mother left y-" Prometheus halted his insults when a blade forged completely of magical fire was raised to his neck.

"Not. Another. Word." Yuusei threatened.

Prometheus grinned. "That's more I like it. See you around, kid!" As he performed Dimensional Transfer, he yelled, "Try not to get cornered this time! Pandora won't be able to bail you out. We'll be busy with our own fight!"

Yuusei looked towards the flames. "That's completely fine with me." A faint memory played in the depths of his mind, the vaguely familiar smile of a beautiful woman with long, flowing auburn hair and deep, blue eyes. Her warmth was greater than the sun. Beside her was a taller woman with long blonde hair with ruby, red eyes. Even from that image she gave him the image of gentle soul. Pushing it back to the corners of his mind, he muttered, "It's not like I have anyone to go home to." His fists lit aflame as he made his way towards the building, hoping to stir more fire in order to attract the bureau.

* * *

><p>In the confines of her room, Alicia sat alone. Chrono had gone to make a phone call outside, but this is just what she had hoped for. Opening her window, she slowly floated down towards the grass, quickly ran several blocks down the street and hid in a bush. Looking at Caliburn, she asked, "You ready for this?"<p>

[Yes ma'am!] Caliburn answered.

Alicia nodded. "Let's go, Caliburn! Seeeet UP!" A glowing, gold light engulfed her as she changed into her barrier jacket. Moments later she emerged, Caliburn turning out to be what looked like a real mass weapon long sword. When one looked at the hilt however, a revolver had been placed to utilize the cartridge system as well as holes for steam on the actual blade, also allowing for cooling for the plasma reactors stored beneath the blade's exterior. "Heard you were built from Ancient-Belkan Orichalcom. Let's put you to the test!"

[Ma'am!] Caliburn replied. With that, they were on their way towards the scene.

Moments later, Chrono opened her door, asking if she wanted a snack. He paled when he noted her absence as only a single thought crossed his mind: 'Fate's soooooo gonna kill me for this.'


	5. The Gears of Destiny

Chronicle V: The Gears of Destiny

The closer Alicia got to the disaster zone, the more chaotic the attack seemed to be. From what she could hear, there was more than one building on fire. She could hear explosions occurring left from right. It was almost as if they happened one after another. The cackling of the flames never left her ears as her footsteps seemed to echo amongst the chaos. Strangely though, she could not stop. 'I want to turn around, I want to go back home.' She thought to herself. Yet, she kept running. For what reason, even she could not have possibly known at the time. Some would be quick to call it fate.

[Ma'am, a battle is unfolding above us. Shall we participate? There are four combatants on the TSAB side, and there are two humans and one familiar on the enemy side.]

Alicia shook her head. "No way, If Mom finds me now I'll be grounded for life!"

[Very well.] The device answered. [New report] Caliburn announced, [Another enemy life sign has been detected just fifteen meters ahead of your current location, shall we confront them?] It asked.

Alicia thought about it. "Is there anyone who can take care of 'em nearby?"

[Confirmed, lady Vivio and lady Einhart will arrive on the scene in about forty five minutes. The damage the attacker will have caused by then however will be substantial.]

Alicia smirked, gripping her device tightly. "You're just as eager to go on a test run as I am aren't ya?"

[Affirmative] Caliburn answered.

Alicia pondered it once more. Her mother was younger than her when she was first partaking in practical battle. On top of that, she had at least half an hour before her sister made it to the scene and in the middle of battle there shouldn't be a way for anyone to find out she's here. Finally, she nodded. "Alright then, let's go Caliburn!"

[Yes Ma'am.] Caliburn replied.

* * *

><p>With little struggle, Vita dodged her opponent and slammed a magic bullet with her hammer, sending it back to Prometheus, whom dodged the blast. Vita growled. 'He's a weakling, but his stamina's pretty good. This is going to become a pain in the ass if things keep up like this!"<p>

Prometheus smirked. "What's wrong? I thought you said you were gonna clobber me!"

Vita growled. "Oh! You little brat! Graf Eisen!"

[Gigantform!] Graf Eisen yelled.

In a flash of red, Vita's hammer extended, then enlarged, and finally slammed down on Prometheus. Seeing his cringe from beneath her hammer, she grinned. "What's a matter brat? Too strong for ya?"

Prometheus grunted. "D-Damn you." Eying the magic shield before him beginning to break, he clenched a fist, "Pandora!" he yelled, "I need a little help over here!"

Pandora zoomed past him, Fate closely behind. Bardiche met with Pandora's staff. "I'm sorry Prometheus, but I am having enough trouble over here." Pandora replies.

Prometheus growled as his shield began to fall apart. "Damn it!" Prometheus yelled. Suddenly, he smirked, a devilish twinkle in his eye.

"Pandora," he called over a transmission device, "Get ready to go viral."

Just before Prometheus shield finished crumbling, Cerberus quickly grabbed him, made for the sky, and hid in the clouds.

At that moment, Signum, Zafira and Shamal seemed to be in a pickle of their own. As Signum fought off mysterious, black flame creatures in the sky, Zafira was taking care of similar creatures on the ground, while Shamal was in the middle of creating a shield to cover Zafira and Signum's backs. At the same time, Erio was riding Fried with Caro as he used Sonic Move to assist Signum in combat in the skies. Caro on the other hand was maintaining a boost spell while using Fried to attack the enemies fire with fire.

Vita held up a fist. "Coward!" She yelled.

Meanwhile, Pandora smirked as she formed a barrier around herself. Unlike the others, Fate's blade did not easily crash through this barrier. In fact, the energy blade used for Sonic Form shut off completely, leaving her with the AEC 5th Generation Terminal blade.

Astonished, Fate quickly jumped back. "Wh-What the?"

[Sir! I am detecting strange AMF abnormalities. I am also reading signs of the Eclipse Virus from our two opponents.]

Fate's eyes narrowed. While continuing to hack away at the barrier, she yelled on her communicator, "Nanoha! They're going to use Eclipse magic! Hurry and aim for the spot where the boy went to hide! You too, Vita hit it with all you've got!"

Nanoha smirked. "'Kay! There's enough residue mana, I'm gonna aim for him with a Starlight Breaker."

Vita nodded. "I'll continue firing at the cloud to see if I can get a rise out of him. You ready?"

Nanoha nodded. "Always!" Mana began to pool around Raising Heart. The mana appeared at first like several specks of pink stardust and then began to race towards the device like millions of shooting stars. As the light began to build larger and larger, Nanoha chanted, "Starlight…"

* * *

><p>The red emergency lights sounded all over the TSAB headquarters station. "Emergency!" was just about the only word the workers could hear at the moment. At the commanding bridge, a boy with short, brown hair and blue eyes was saluting Hayate. Next to him stood a girl dressed in very classy European styled clothing with chesnut hair, and another girl with black hair in two short pig tails, and amber eyes. The group was dressed in the usual TSAB training uniform.<p>

"Thoma Avenir reporting for duty with Lily Strosek and Isis Erget!"

"What's up Commander?" Isis asked.

Hayate seemed visibly bothered. Thoma and company did not know well of the situation, they had only returned this past evening after the party. As such, they did not attend and went straight to work; only to be called in like this when the emergency warnings sounded. They meant to bring the Hucklebein but at the moment, the family of Eclipse Drivers was performing community service on Vaizen, and as a result they were unable to come with them. "We have a very, large problem right now. I need the Silver Unit to mobilize as soon as possible."

Lily's eyes widened. "But aren't the Lightning and Star units already out?"

Hayate shook her head. "Unfortunately it's not enough. They were doing fine a moment ago but the opposition is now using a strange, unidentified AMF and…"

Thoma raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"They plan to react… They are Eclipse Drivers." Hayate finished.

Thoma was taken aback. Understanding the seriousness of the situation, he asked, "How long?"

Hayate nodded. "You have about ten minutes before the reaction finishes. They aren't pros."

Thoma nodded. "Okay, Lily, Isis, let's g-"

"Before you go though," Hayate interjected, "I want to know; how is the vaccine doing? Have things… stabilized?"

Thoma smiled. "Actually, it's not that bad anymore. Lily's not contagious anymore. The two of us should be fine from here on in. I can still use Eclipse magic, and we can still react, but it's no longer a threat to our health. Or at least, that's what the R&D group tells me."

Hayate smiled. "I'm glad." She said. "Well then, get moving Silver Unit! Your orders are to assist the Lightning and Star units!"

The group saluted her. "Yes Ma'am!" They replied.

* * *

><p>At the moment, Alicia was slipping through a small boulevard. "How much further Caliburn?"<p>

[Only another block. We are close, get ready.] The device answered.

"Un!" With a final burst of speed, Alicia found herself in the town square. The entire area was aflame, and only a single boy stood in the middle of it all. Alicia's face went from excited to terribly confused. 'He's about my age. Did he really do all of this?' She asked herself. She took a step, and he turned to face her.

The boy leveled his device towards her, his expression threatening. "Who are you?" He asked.

Alicia gripped Caliburn, sending back a warm smile. "My name's Alicia, Alicia T-Harlaown. I-I'm helping the bureau capture the people who did this to the town." Noting the boy's appearance, she soon realized she had never seen this boy around this area before. In small towns like this, everyone knew everyone. "I've never seen you around here though, who're you? Where are your parents?"

Yuusei raised an eyebrow. "You're kinda young aren't you? Sides, I don't think someone like you should be involved in something like this." He answered, dodging the question. Meanwhile, the boy was carefully choosing his words. 'This kid may look weak, but if I'm not careful, I may just walk into a trap.'

Alicia huffed. "How rude!" Placing a hand on her chest, she gave him a proud smirk. "I'm daughter of Fate T-Harlaown and Nanoha Takamachi. I'll be fine here. Still though, who are you?"

Yuusei's eyes narrowed for a moment, but he quickly feigned surprise. "Oh, so you're their daughter. That makes you pretty strong then." Figuring it wise to answer her questions, he answered, "As for my name it's Yuusei… Yuusei Takahiro. My parents? My parents abandoned me when I was really young."

Alicia felt a pang of sadness, her eyes softened. "I'm sorry to hear that." Suddenly, she beamed. "Hey, why not come with me? Maybe we can find someone at the bureau to help you! People have done it before." She gave him a hopeful smile.

Yuusei tilted his head, attempting to hold his feigned smile. 'Is this kid really a member of the bureau? I know she would have been told to detain me, they've seen my face.' Suddenly, a guilty expression slithered onto his face. 'I'm gonna feel real bad about this, she really is a nice kid.' Without warning, he summoned his device. "I'd love to go with you but…"

Alicia felt somewhat hurt that he was going to reject her offer, but she urged him on. "But?" Suddenly, a surge of energy swept past her.

[Ma'am! Quick! Block with me!] Caliburn cried. Divinium collided with the sword device with a loud bang.

Alicia looked up in surprise. "No way." She mumbled.

Yuusei leapt into the air, four spheres of fire forming around him.

[Crimson Flare!] His device shouted. The spheres shot forth from their spaces, racing towards Alicia.

Alicia gasped and held out Caliburn.

[Protection EX!] Caliburn cried. Suddenly, a large shield of whitish blue energy appeared, a golden rim framing the outside of the shield. The spheres exploded upon impact, but Alicia was unharmed.

Yuusei smirked. "Hey, you're pretty good. I didn't think you'd be able to block that quickly. I'm surprised, that device of yours is pretty top grade. Had it not summoned up that shield for you, I would've toasted you crispy!"

Alicia was still too shell shocked. "Wait! So you're-"

Yuusei nodded. "Yup; I'm the one you're looking for." Alicia only stared, while Yuusei smiled at her playfully. "So Alicia, think you can take me down?"

Alicia readied her blade. 'I don't know too much yet, but I think I should be okay if I stick to basic spells. If he gets close enough I can nail em' with my Strike Arts.' She readied her stance, one arm, ready to cast, the other ready to put her device away to deliver a quick punch.

Yuusei raised an eyebrow and cocked his head. "You know, if you think you're going to land a punch or a mana blast on me with that stance, you may want to rethink your strategy."

Alicia froze. 'How does he know?' She shouted to herself in shock. Surely she hadn't made it that obvious. She gazed at the boy's eyes, they were analytical, cold and yet at the same time they seemed to be watching her, judging.

The young male mage sighed. "You're still inexperienced. I'd feel bad about hurting you."

Alicia growled, insulted. "What was that?" She yelled.

Yuusei shook his head, a large sphere of fire forming above him. "Leave! This is no place someone like you." He demanded. His voice was completely neutral.

Alicia shook her head. "If you really did all of this then you need to come with me!" She replies.

Yuusei closes his eyes. The faint image of a woman with long, auburn hair ghosts itself through his mind, her deep blue eyes very much like his own. By her side stood a woman very much resembling the girl. He hated them, more than ever now. He knew who they were. He just didn't want to remember. His eyes suddenly formed a dark glare as the ball of fire raged on above him. 'Star…' He mentally chanted.

Alicia trembled, his energy terrifying, and dark. She stumbled backwards as she tried to come up with a plan. The spell threatened to deal as much damage to her as Nanoha's Divine Buster probably would.

[Master, use maximum defense!] Caliburn commanded.

Alicia could only nod as she held Caliburn out and several layers of shields burst forth from the device. Alicia braced herself, anticipating the impact.

Yuusei's eyes darted above them, something obviously catching his eye. He changed his aim and sure enough he cast his blast towards the sky. 'Break!' He finished, sending a blaze of fire up towards the sky, seeming to destroy something with a loud explosion. He took a moment, and allowed the dust to settle. Alicia let her shields down.

[His target was not us.] Caliburn seemed surprised, well as surprised as a device could be.

Alicia nodded, she was sure Yuusei had intended to hit her with that blast.

Yuusei continued to stare skyward, and for a moment, he caught a glimpse of silver, silver hair that is. His eyes widened for a moment, but he soon shook his head. He returned his gaze to Alicia, and suddenly disappeared.

Alicia wasn't ready, the battle was on again and she was caught completely dazed.

[Ma'am look out!] Caliburn yelled. Unfortunately the device was too late as Yuusei appeared behind Alicia, faster than sound.

He stood there for a moment. Alicia was the exact image of that woman with the blonde hair and red eyes. She stirred something in him, and suddenly, he felt his ferocity slowly fade away. He leveled his staff at her neck. "Sorry, sis." He whispers lowly.

Alicia cocked a confused eyebrow, and struggled to turn around but was unable to in the boy's strong grip. "Wait!" She cries, "What are you talking abo-" _SNAP!_ Alicia fell to her knees, suddenly unconscious.

Yuusei caught her with his staff, and gently laid her on the ground. Looking around, he noted that none of the falling debris should manage to harm Alicia. 'Prometheus,' He began, 'I was seen. What do I do? I've managed to escape.'

'Gah! Damn it kid I've got my own problems right now! I've just hid in the clouds, preparing for going viral. In any case, return to base. The boss will probably have new orders for you.'

Yuusei thought about that for a moment. 'Sure, I think Koga should be back too by now. I'll be leaving in a moment.'

"Hold it right there!" A voice yelled.

Yuusei spun on his heel to find two women with bi-chromatic eyes one with golden hair, the other silvery-mint. He looked down at Alicia. 'They must be with the girl. They look like real bureau soldiers though.'

Vivio stopped when she laid eyes on the boy. Einhalt brought her hands to her lips. Alicia was unconscious. Yuusei was standing there, analyzing them with his eyes.

Yuusei mentally growled. 'Crap, I can't take two of them on! I've already used up a lot of strength.' His body began to glow. He noted the horror in the golden-haired woman's eyes. He was attempting to escape.

Vivio began to make a charge for the young mage. "Wait! Don't leave yet!"

Yuusei ignored her protests and continued his spell. In a few moments, he was gone.

A mere split second later, Vivio charged through where Yuusei once stood. He had managed to escape, but he had left Alicia with them. She held the air in her open palms. She clenched her fists and slammed her left fist into the ground.

Einhalt cautiously approached the girl. "Vivio?" She began worriedly.

Vivio sat there, on her knees. "Damn it, damn it!" She yelled. After a moment, she finally rose from her spot and scooped Alicia into her arms and cradled her. Her eyes were watery. "This is so messed up." Looking down at Alicia, she smiled sadly. "How did I know you were gonna sneak out?"

Einhalt shrugged and put a hand on her shoulder. "I caught his transportation coordinates and mana signature. I'll go looking for him after I report to Commander Hayate that we ran into Yuusei. You take Alicia home okay?"

Vivio nodded. "'Kay. But if you happen to find him, let me know. I want to have a word with him myself."

Einhalt nodded. She was just about to leave when Vivio quickly grabbed on to her left hand.

"Remember this too Ein-chan. Alicia-chan was never here. I'll go home and treat Alicia-chan's wounds." She looked back down at the girl. "I think she's suffered enough."

Einhalt nodded. "Okay." She took a moment to hug Vivio from behind.

Vivio rose in her grip. "Let's go." She said.

The two left without another word, headed in opposite directions.

* * *

><p>Yuusei warped into plain, metallic room. It was completely white in color. There was a single door exit, a design similar to the bureau's base rooms. "Koga, you back yet?" He calls. No answer. Yuusei was just about to walk away when a voice called for his attention.<p>

"Hey Yuusei, you made it back. It's been awhile since I've seen you." Yuusei turned to find a boy of similar features to him. The only difference being his dark, brown hair compared to Yuusei's fiery brown. Their deep blue eyes were almost the exact same shade.

"I know right?" Yuusei replied. "How've ya been Koga?" He asks.

Koga shakes his head. "I've been alright. Oh, did you hear that Photon XIII was active in the city today? The other Harlaown girl."

Yuusei stood there for a moment. "Yeah, I did."

"You fought her?" Koga asked. "How was it?"

Yuusei sighed. "She obviously has only recently gotten a hold of the basics. She's above average but it's obvious she's had no one come at her seriously." The boy says.

Koga shook his head. "Not gonna lie, it would suck going up against you of all people for a first real-time opponent." He says.

"Well, she did have one of the new hybrid devices so she didn't get hurt. After a while I just knocked her out. Two bureau girls showed up shortly after. She should be okay now." Yuusei explains.

Koga snickered. "I forgot you don't like to fight women and children. You know, that nice streak is gonna get you killed." He teases.

Yuusei smirks. "Thanks for looking out for me, but I'll be fine." He counters.

Koga's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh that's right! I heard the unison device and resonators should be ready today!" He exclaims cheerfully.

Yuusei laughs at him, shaking his head. "Who's the older one here?"

Koga ceases his laughter and only smiles. "Yeah, yeah whatever." He replies. "Well? Shall we go check out the lab?" He asks.

Before Yuusei could reply, the two heard a beeping. A message. The two quickly activated their sound only communicators.

"Yes, what do you want Precia?" Koga asks. Yuusei says nothing.

"Is Yuusei with you?" She asks.

"Yeah, he is." Koga answers.

"Good," She says, "I want both of you to go and lay waste to the bureau's HQ in Long Arch. They're out currently fighting Prometheus and Pandora. It should give you two more than enough time to inflict substantial damage to the area." She orders.

Koga tenses for a moment and Yuusei only grimaces at the screen. It was clear they didn't approve of their latest orders.

"By the way Koga," Precia adds.

"Yeah?" Koga answers.

"I promise you a gracious reward if you bring your mother's head to me." Koga glared at the screen, suddenly thankful that Precia can't see his face.

"…Fine." Is all Koga answers with before cutting communications.

Yuusei eyed him with a level gaze. "What're we gonna do Koga?"

Koga returns his gaze, but there was an unreadable expression in his eyes. "We're going to the lab."

Yuusei raised an eyebrow. Suddenly realization flickered in his eyes. "You wouldn't." He says.

Koga grins. "Oh, I would. If they're done, we'll have all the ammo we'll need." He explains.

Yuusei smirks. "Us against the world?" He asks.

"Naturally." Koga replies. The two make their way to the single exit to the room and Koga opens the door. "Last chance, gonna back out?" Koga asks the younger boy.

Yuusei stands there for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Raising hell before winding up in Bureau prison is a hell of a lot better than dealing with her."

Then the two were off on their way. They had set the gears of destiny into motion, and regardless of what would come of it, good or bad, the results would be irrevocable.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait! Oh, an update, FORCE has been added to this canon albeit with some altered events in the timeline to accommodate Alicia and company's existence in this time. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the read.<p> 


	6. A Painful Revelation

Chronicle VI: A Painful Revelation

Yuusei and Koga ran through several hallways until they were finally in a white lab room. It seemed that everyone had left for the day. It was either that or they were out on their evening shift break. It was most likely the latter of the two, since the door was left wide open. Looking to their right Yuusei noticed a strange pair of tubes with life-sustaining fluid. "Are those the resonators?" he asked his partner in crime.

Koga shrugged his shoulders. "That's what they're supposed to be: human-shaped unison devices with special powers. Looking at them up-close, they don't look like anything special though to be honest," he answered. Looking at them he added, "I am kinda surprised that they're girls though."

Looking at them again, Yuusei flushed and quickly looked away for a second before realizing that they were already clothed. Deciding to play it off, he took a quick peak at the control panel. "Seems like they're done preparing them Koga, can you take it from here?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," Koga replied. "Just make sure to keep watch. If anyone shows up, blast 'em through the skull."

"You got it," Yuusei replied as he stepped out of the room and into the hallway. There were no guards in the lab. It seemed suspicious to him. He looked back to Koga, who in less than ten minutes had removed the two girls from their tubes. He was still in the process of waking them though.

"They're out like lights," Koga complained.

Yuusei chuckled, "They wouldn't wanna make this hi-jacking _that _easy would they?" he asked jokingly.

Koga laughed quietly. "You're right there. Oh! Yuusei come quick, I've got them!" he exclaimed, motioning for the younger boy to come to him.

Despite his fears, Yuusei came to Koga's side and went straight to observing the two now that they were out of their tubes. He could not make any exact judgments. They were too closed up and asleep. Still, to get out of here they would have to wake them up and calmly escort them out of the building. Waving his hand in front of one, he said, "They're totally out cold Koga. How are we gonna get them outta here?"

Koga shook his head. "Dunno, we're gonna have to wake them up first."

Yuusei grimaced and gently shook one's shoulder. "Hey," he whispered, "you alive?" he asked. It seemed like a stupid question, but it seemed appropriate since they were submerged in fluid.

One began to stir, and it was then that Yuusei almost backed away. Koga turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Somethin' wrong Yuusei?"

"They look like them."

"Who looks like who?"

"The girls," he began, "they look like the two older girls from the TSAB that I ran into before I escaped the attack site."

Koga tilted his head. "Serious?" he asked.

Yuusei nodded. "Positive."

"Hm, that's weird. Supposedly Project Photon was shut down after XIII was born. Why would there be genetically enhanced kids here? And if they are what we think they are, why are they unison devices?" Koga asked curiously.

The two sat there for a moment, collecting their theories until they realized that they were short on time. Suddenly, they heard a pair of feminine groans. The girls were waking up. "Hey, the girls are up," Yuusei told the other boy.

As the two awoke, they were revealed to be similar to Vivio and Einhart almost completely in appearance in their adult forms. They were perfectly similar. One began to speak to them. "Sankt-Resonator, Olivia at your service," the golden-haired girl said to them.

The silvery-mint-haired girl nervously shifted her gaze between the two of them. "K-Kaiser-Resonator, Aerith is ready for combat," she said to them nervously.

Koga smiled at them. "Hey there," he said. "I'm Koga, and this here is my buddy and partner-in-crime Yuusei."

"You two must be quite skilled to think that you can use a resonator at such a young age," Aerith said flatly.

Koga felt his eyebrow twitch. "Listen here toots, I'll have you know that I am one of the highest-ranked combatants amongst all of the Project Photon survivors!" he told them angrily.

Olivia yawned, stretching her arm for a moment. "Just be careful when you use us alright? I don't wanna hear any complaining if you croak," she told them. Standing up, she added, "Oh, right. Aerith, we have to change into our combatant forms," she told the other girl.

Aerith nodded to her. "Right."

"Hold up," Yuusei interrupted, "what's combatant form?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow, clearly suspicious of them. "You don't know? It's our true form. This is just the initial form they installed for us based upon the DNA used to create us. Our true form is what we really look like, and it raises our stats a fair amount," she explained.

"Please be patient. It will only take a moment," Aerith told boys.

After she said that, flashy pillars of light engulfed the two girls. The light almost blinded the two unsuspecting boys and forced them to look away. "Wh-What the hell?" Yuusei yelled in shock.

_I haven't heard of unison devices with different forms before,_ Koga told him over telepathy.

_Don't feel bad, it's not familiar to me either, _Yuusei replied.

For several moments the light blinded them in this way until moments later when it finally died down. In place of the two girls stood two slightly older looking girls. One, in the place where Aerith once stood had her hair in double braids. Her hair had gone completely white in color, with eyes gleaming gold.

As for where Olivia once stood, the girl's blonde hair remained but her eyes had gone completely green. The heterochromia was gone. She also was wearing an incredibly unique looking armor.

[Aerith Silverbane Form 2: Army of One] the white-haired girl identified now as Aerith said in an almost metallic voice.

[Olivia Goldenrod Form 2: Soul Stealer] the golden-haired girl identified now as Olivia said in an equally metallic voice.

Eying them with bewilderment, the two boys were left with gaping mouths and complete astonishment and disbelief. What had they just seen? Looking at the two girls, they grinned as they agreed on only one simple fact: this was going very, very well for them.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Nanoha and the rest of the Section Six members were having problems of their own. Nanoha indeed unleashed Starlight Breaker into the clouds, but by then it was too late- Prometheus had already reacted! He emerged from the clouds, laughing maniacally. "It's too late now chumps! Prepare yourselves!" he yelled wildly between fits of psychotic laughter.<p>

Nanoha gasped as Prometheus's scythe swiftly met with her staff. He chipped the staff, but just barely. What he had hit for the most part was Nanoha's Round Shield spell. He kept striking in this manner, continuously focusing on one spot. "Kill- hahaha- I'll KILL YOU ALL!" he yelled demonically as he continued to slice at the mage's shield.

Nanoha on the other hand, was not nearly as amused as Prometheus. While he was busy striking and focusing on a single point, she was preparing a focused blast from behind her Round Shield. _Just a little more, _she thought to herself quietly. _If I hit him at this distance with my full power, he'll be down for the count! _

While this was going on, Fate was faring no better against the equally as dangerous Pandora, who had also decided to react. Her shield was down, and she was chasing Fate all over the streets with what seemed to be homing fighter bits. Fate cursed as a laser of magical energy just barely missed her hair. "Tch, figures I'd get a long distance opponent!" she said to herself irately.

Pandora on the other hand stood motionless in the center of the street, uninterested in Fate's predicament as she directed the fighter bits to her location and attempted to shoot her. "She won't escape," Pandora muttered quietly.

"Oh yes she will bitch!" Vita yelled angrily as she left her post near Nanoha. She sped towards her opponent, Graf Eisen at the ready. She readied her stance, aiming to making a clear shot a Pandora's head. When Vita finally swung her mighty hammer, she was met with an incredible wall, no, a shield!

While controlling six fighter bits, Pandora was still capable of shield herself. She looked up at Vita, completely uninterested in her assault. "Go away, I'm not done playing with her yet," Pandora said lowly as smaller magic circle appeared in front of her shield.

Vita's eyes widened as she noticed a large amount of energy gathering inside of the circle. "Shit!" she yelled as she attempted to escape the blast radius- but she was too late! The blast almost engulfed her entire left arm. Thank goodness for her barrier jacket or her arm would have been lost to the world. Due to the sudden imbalance from the blast, Vita tumbled back to the ground. She cursed indignantly.

From where Signum and the rest of the Wolkenritter were fighting, they noticed the difficulties of their fellow comrades and cursed. "This is bad," Signum muttered allowed.

As Zafira punched through yet another beast and sent a Steel Yoke through another, he said, "and it only seems to be getting worse."

Indeed Zafira was right. Things were getting worse for the group. Nanoha was in a completely bind going toe to toe with an opponent that she needed actual charging time to deal serious damage to, with Fate unable to get too close because of the constant interference of the remotely guided fighter bits. Thankfully, their fight seemed to end with his last two kills.

"Time for backup!" Erio yelled as Shamal teleported the three to Pandora's general location.

Pandora's eyes raced around herself as she made quick note of the fact that she was surrounded. _Oh no! I was too careless-_ she did not get to finish the thought when Fate finally managed to break through her barrage of lasers and land a blow with the Zanber form on one of Pandora's shields. With a little force, she shattered one of them completely; however, Pandora made five more to take its place.

Calmly speeding to her group's side, Fate said, "Thanks for the surprise guys. You helped me catch her for a moment."

Signum grinned. "No problem," she replied, raising her sword. "Let's finish her off and take her back for questioning."

Pandora grimaced and looked upward. _Prometheus, I need help-_

_Sorry! I'm busy too you know! _Prometheus mentally yelled as he charged forward.

Nanoha smiled. _Just what I was waiting for, _she thought to herself. She was done charging. The

White Devil was finally ready for the counterattack. "Divine Buster!" she yelled as her beam of energy easily nailed Prometheus dead center and sent him sailing through the sky.

Soon after that, he quickly recovered and charged the White Devil once more, scythe at the ready. He raced toward her, even with his damaged body. "I'll get you this time-"he never got to finish his sentence as a silver beam of energy crashed into his side and slammed him into the ground beside his sister.

"Bulls-eye," Touma said cheerily as he brandished his divider.

_Well done Touma! _Lily cheered.

Isis smirked and waved to their friends. "Sorry we're late," she told them, "but without further delay the cavalry has arrived!"

Prometheus and Pandora growled. What was a somewhat disadvantageous battle had suddenly become a completely one-sided trouncing.

* * *

><p><em>BOOM! <em>Back at the lab, Koga and Yuusei were running about the lab.

"Photon subjects Koga and Yuusei have gone berserk! The numbers- AGH!" _BAM! SPLAT! _

Soon after that, Yuusei and Koga stood just outside of what appeared to be a hospital entrance completely covered in blood. Something about them was different though. "I like what the new threads," Koga said aloud, admiring the new wardrobe from his unison. His eyes had turned green, and his hair was now a golden-blonde color. "Nice choices Olivia!"

_Thanks, but don't you two have something to do right now?_ She asked.

Koga smirked at her. _Yeah, but we don't have to be there quite yet,_ he explained to her over telepathy. _Right now, Yuusei and I have to clean up a little. If we walk or fly around like this we'll be found out in no time. _

_What he means to say is that we look suspicious either way, _Yuusei interjected. It was true. They were completely garbed in knight's armor. They looked like they were off to war. His hair had become pure-white from the fusion, and his eyes as gold as Aerith's were.

_Then what do you suggest Yuusei? _Aerith asked curiously.

Yuusei shook his head. _Gimmie a break, I'm wokin' on that. Right now though, I think it'd be a good time to find somewhere to hide and wash all of this blood off,_ he told her.

Koga nodded. _Agreed. When we've freshened up a little and managed to rest for a while we're paying a visit to TSAB's local headquarters for Section Six,_ he said to the group.

Yuusei raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Right now?" he asked aloud.

Koga nodded his head to him. "No better time than the present. Data of what was actually here will be leaked eventually and they'll figure out a cover measure for their powers. We should make use of our element of surprise," he told the younger boy.

Yuusei seemed to nod his head. It seemed like a logical plan to him. "Fine, sounds good, but you're leading the charge," he told him.

Koga smirked. "Naturally," he cockily replied.

With the finer details of their plan complete, the two set off to find some shelter for the moment and if possible- a shower.

* * *

><p>At last we return to our young heroine Alicia who was currently asleep in her bed. Chrono was standing over her beside Vivio. "So you're saying Alicia ran off into town and fell?" he asked.<p>

Vivio nodded. "Yeah, she hit her head when we found her."

"Sure you didn't see anything else?"

"Yeah."

"Don't lie Vivio, you know I'm not like that," Chrono warned.

Vivio sighed. "Fine… Alicia saw him… Yuusei I mean."

Chrono's eyes widened. "She did what? Wait- he was responsible for the fire?" He looked away for the moment and then back to the window, thinking of the auburn-haired mage fighting outside with her comrades. "Does your mother know yet?" he asked stiffly.

Vivio shook her head. "Ein-chan caught a glimpse of his signal right before he teleported so we're tracking him now," she answered sincerely. While Chrono was a superior officer, he was also part of the family and if anything, he knew better than anyone to judge a crook before knowing the whole story.

Chrono nodded. "Very well. If he's detained I will argue for his freedom. Nanoha had the right to raise that boy from the very beginning. If anything, Alicia might enjoy having an older brother," he told her.

Olivia smiled. It paid real well to have family in the higher-ups. "Thanks a lot Uncle Chrono," she told him.

Chrono smiled and ruffled the girl's hair. "No problem kiddo," he replied.

During this exchange, they hadn't realized that Alicia had woken a few moments ago and had been listening the entire time. She continued to feign unconsciousness, but in her mind she was filled to the brim with questions. _Yuusei is Nanoha-mama's son… and my older brother? _She thought to herself in shock. She had so much to ask, so much she wanted to know, but she knew she had to remain silent. Odds are from how this conversation was going, she wasn't going to get any information out of Chrono or Vivio.

"So, that Project Photon stuff, they won't really terminate any of them will they?" Vivio asked worriedly.

Chrono crossed his arms. "Hard to say, we might get pardon for Yuusei if we argue really, really well, but our odds of securing proper rights for the others are low," he told her sincerely.

Vivio growled. "It's not fair! They never asked for this- not Ivory, not Yuusei, not Alicia, none of them!" she yelled as her temper began to flare.

Chrono quickly embraced her. "Calm down, you'll wake up Alicia," he warned.

Little did he know, Alicia was awake and becoming more and more curious by the second. _Project Photon? I wonder what that is, and why is it bothering Onee-chan so much?_ she thought to herself.

Alicia heard Vivio slam a fist against one of her bedroom walls. "Even if they're genetically enhanced clones, this- this just isn't right!" Vivio uttered through her tears.

Alicia's heart began to twist. _What did Onee-chan just say? Genetically enhanced… clone?_ A whirlpool of emotions began to well up inside of her. _This is some kinda joke. Right Onee-chan? I get it… This is a bad dream!_ she thought to herself. _Yeah a bad dream! So please Onee-chan wake me up… Wake me up and let me forget all of this,_ she mentally begged. Alicia soon felt herself falling into a sea of despair when she realized that she was awake, so much so that tears began to leak from her tightly shut eyes. This wasn't a dream, this was her reality: she was nothing more than someone's copy- a fake.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes:<span>

Poor Alicia the cat's out of the bag! Sorry for the long absence! I spent a lot of time researching other manga, games, and anime for ideas. I also read into FORCE for some ideas on how to design the resonators. Anyway, all of the clones show up in this chapter huh? Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Photon!


	7. Little Brother

Chronicle VII: Little Brother 

"Vivio, clone isn't the right word for it!" Chrono reminded. "They're still their children, they were just genetically engineered prior to their birth," he added.

"Then why does Alicia-chan almost exactly like Fate-mama, huh Uncle Chrono?" Vivio persisted loudly.

Chrono felt his palm caress his face. _She's like how Fate was during her periods as a teenager, more temperamental than a dragon,_ he mentally complained. Sighing, he said, "I am not sure. I look very similar to my father, perhaps it was just coincidence," he suggested. "Besides, how would you explain that Nanoha's 'clone' came out a boy rather than a girl if they were just clones?" he asked.

Vivio shook her head. "Maybe there was a mishap during the duplication process of Nanoha-mama's cells? Messing up a chromosome probably isn't that hard with all of the stuff we can do on Mid-Childa," she argued.

Chrono crossed his arms. Vivio was really scratching the bottom of the barrel to win this argument, but Vivio had a personal bone to pick with this incident. After all, Vivio herself was a product of Project-Fate-related work and a victim of people who tried to use her to fulfill their own selfish ambitions. "I understand how you feel about this Vivio," he began, "but we need to think about Alicia-chan as we proceed from here okay?"

Vivio was silent for a moment, eyeing her "younger sister" with eyes filled with empathy and confusion. She was at a loss and was having a hard time deciding where she would go from here. Just as she was about to answer Chrono though, her communicator beeped.

"Vivio, I found him," Einhart said. "He's with another boy now though. They're in casual clothes wandering town with two older girls about our age," she told the blonde.

Vivio raised an eyebrow. _He's with friends? I thought he would be reporting back to a base or something,_ Vivio thought to herself curiously. "Keep tailing him and send me your active coordinates. I'll be there in a minute," she told the silvery-mint-haired girl.

"Roger," Einhart replied as she hung up.

Vivio was left to shift her gaze between Alicia, Chrono, and the door. Her feet shuffled, and her body filled with tension. This was their chance to question him peacefully, she had to hurry!

Chrono stared at her for a moment, saying nothing with a stiff expression plastered onto his face. "Gonna go?" he asked.

Vivio nodded. "I have to," she replied.

Chrono said nothing, but eventually smiled at her and pointed towards the door. "Just be safe and remember to take him to a safe place quietly if you manage to apprehend him," he told her quietly.

Vivio nodded to him, saying, "Thanks Chrono," as she made for the door.

Just as she was about to leave though, Chrono said to her, "Just remember though that Alicia-chan sneaking out never happened," he told her. "Your mothers will kill me."

Vivio giggled and shook her head. "It's okay, I wasn't gonna tell them anyway," she told him cheerfully. After that, she shot through the door and quickly made to haste to join Einhart in pursuing Yuusei.

* * *

><p>Speaking of Yuusei, the boy was currently travelling with Koga and the two resonators. They had just finished their showers at a public bathhouse that they snuck into and were currently taking a break and enjoying a bit of sight-seeing.<p>

During their servitude to Precia, Yuusei and Koga were never allowed out on leisure trips, so moments like these were incredibly precious to them. "City's nice as always," Yuusei muttered.

"Almost makes me feel bad that we were told to tear it up," Koga said to himself.

Aerith eyed the two boys for a moment before asking, "Don't you two have families to go home to? According to my database, most children your age would be home at this hour."

Koga and Yuusei looked at each other for a moment, but soon nodded their heads and stared off into space. "Truth is Aerith, we don't have parents," Yuusei explained.

Koga nodded. "I don't know who my parents are, but Yuusei was separated from his parents after he was born. They never came to get him, so they sorta abandoned him," he added.

Aerith looked away for a moment. "Oh, I-I'm sorry Yuusei, I had no idea," she told Yuusei apologetically.

Yuusei smiled at her. "Ah it's fine Aerith. You didn't mean anything bad by it," he replied gently.

Olivia snickered and nudged Aerith on the side. "You've found yourself quite a fine lord huh Aerith?" she teased.

Aerith flushed and shook her head. "O-Olivia that's taking things out of context!" she told her blonde companion.

Olivia rolled her eyes and giggled. "Yeah right, you should see the look on your face right now!" she exclaimed.

Einhart, who was listening in on their conversation from afar, felt terribly confused. _I didn't expect someone who's wanted for execution to be out playing so freely in town like this, _she thought to herself quietly. Looking around, she said to herself, "Better get them to come with me before anyone else finds them," she told herself.

Just as Einhart was about to continue walking towards them, Vivio quietly ran up behind her. "Sorry I'm late!" Vivio exclaimed as loud as possible.

Einhart immediately shushed her and pointed directly ahead of them to the party of four who were continuing their stroll through town. Their backs were completely turned and it seemed that they had not yet sensed their presence.

"Let's see if we can engage them in a conversation," Einhart suggested.

Vivio nodded to her. "Good idea," Vivio answered.

After this the two resolved to sneak their way to the front of the party to start a conversation, but Yuusei and Koga were already aware that they were being followed. Noticing this, the two quickly began to pick up their walking pace.

"They the girls?" Koga asked in a whisper.

Yuusei nodded. "Yeah they are. Should we run for it?"

"Nah, that'd only attract their attention. If they try to intercept us, I say we go quietly. If anything, it may give us an in to the HQ. If we're not separated from the girls, it'll be perfect!" Koga told the younger boy with gleeful tone of voice. He seemed to really believe that this would work.

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Yuusei replied, trusting the older boy's judgment. They purposefully slowed down and let the two girls step in front of them. They had conveniently made their way to the local park. It was a quiet place where people rarely went to at night, so it would make things easier for them if a fight broke out.

"Hey, remember us?" Einhart asked. She came off a tad more intimidating than she probably should have.

Yuusei felt his shoulder stiff, reconsidering Koga's plan. "Y-Yeah, I do. What do you guys want?" he asked with a threatening voice. He reached into his pocket to rest his hand Divinium, just in case.

Vivio stepped forward, noting how she and Einhart looked just like the two girls travelling with Yuusei. Ignoring the fact for the moment, she continued to ease her way toward Yuusei until she was directly in front of him.

Koga was starting to grow nervous as well now, making his way toward the two of them. "U-Uh, Miss, if you have a problem with my friend maybe you can talk it out with me?" he offered. Koga's voice was hard and cold, a huge change from his usually relaxed, childish demeanor.

Vivio ignored him and fell to her knees as she embraced the boy, sobbing uncontrollably. Yuusei stood there, taken aback by the sudden turn of events. His traveling companions and Einhart were equally as confused. "It's okay, please don't fight with me," Vivio begged. "We won't hurt you," she told him desperately.

Yuusei flinched as she gently caressed his hair. He thought about it for a moment before remembering that he had come across this girl in the Project-F database: she was Vivio Takamachi, the product of Project-F that along with Fate Testarossa, led to the idea of Project Photon. She had supposedly been through treatment similar to how Precia treated them. She also happened to be Nanoha Takamachi's adopted daughter; and therefore, by adoption, his older sister.

No one said anything for the longest time, until Yuusei asked, "How do I know that I can trust you?" he asked coldly. "You wanna hand me over to the TSAB don't you?" he asked stiffly.

Vivio shook her head. "No, had I known you even existed before tonight, I would have tried to find you, protect you, I could have- I should have-" it was no use, Vivio was sobbing uncontrollably and was not able to form coherent sentences anymore.

Seeing this woman, who he had only known for no longer than two minutes, cry for him, Yuusei felt incredibly moved by her compassion, but most of all by her warmth and love. "What will you do with me then?" he asked seriously.

"Huh?" Vivio replied. She was still squeezing the boy in her tight embrace, and she didn't quite understand his question.

"If you don't turn me in, your whole family and possibly all of Section-6 will be branded traitors won't they? I'm sure the Aces of Aces wouldn't want that," the boy warned.

Vivio shook her head. "You're coming home with me," she told him sternly. Looking at his companions, she added, "Your friends can come too if they'd like."

Yuusei felt his eyes narrow. What she was offering him didn't match up with what he was told about the Takamachi-Harlaown family. "Didn't you just hear what I said? You all will be branded trai-"

"I don't care," Vivio interjected stubbornly. "If anyone tries to take you away again, I'll help Mama beat them to a pulp," she told him.

Yuusei struggled within himself. This is what he had been looking for- the love of a family, so why? Why was he having a hard time trusting her?

"Vivio, we should continue this elsewhere," Einhart advised, making Vivio aware of all of the stares she was getting from passing-by civilians.

Giggling sheepishly, she said, "Yeah, you're probably right." Looking to Yuusei and his friends, she asked, "Could you please come with us? I promise you that nothing bad will happen to any of you."

Yuusei hesitated, but eventually nodded his head. Koga did so as well, but much more quickly than Yuusei had. "You ladies have yourselves a deal," Koga told them as he and the two resonators made their way near Yuusei. With their newfound close proximity, they could now use teleportation magic to transport to a new location together.

"It's better if we do this at your place Ein-chan," Vivio told the heterochromatic-eyed girl.

"Is that gonna be okay with Nanoha-san?" she asked.

"It'll be fine. I'll tell her that I'm sleeping over. We can tell her about all of this after that," she told her friend.

Einhart nodded. "Very well, let's go then," she said as she summoned a green magic circle. In a flash, they were engulfed by light and made haste towards Einhart's house. As they did so, Vivio mentally relayed the events at the park to Chrono.

_Should I send guards to Einhart's house? _he asked.

_No, we promised them nothing bad would happen. I want to just talk with them for a while. I'm gonna tell Mama where I am soon, but I just thought I'd let you know first, _she replied.

_Okay, be safe, _Chrono told her.

_I will, _she said.

Not too long after that conversation was over, the group arrived at the large home of Einhart Stratos. Yuusei could only gaze at it in awe along with his travel companions- they had never seen something like this before. Einhart's home was incredibly beautiful and held an air of royalty. Vivio understood their sentiments, she was equally as impressed when she had first seen it herself. Smiling brightly, Vivio asked, "Ready to go inside?"

* * *

><p>Back at the Takamachi-Harlaown residence, Chrono had left Alicia's room to make a business call. While he did so, Alicia sneakily opened an eye to find that no one was in her room at the moment. Taking advantage of this, she slowly sat herself up and began to reflect on what she had just learned. While what Chrono had said made her feel slightly better, she still felt awful.<p>

Alicia was filled with questions. _So I could just be a fake? And even if I'm not, I was just part of an experiment? If that's true, who am I? Am I really Alicia Takamachi-Harlaown, or am I some kind of weapon that Mid-Childa made to fight for them? _All of these thoughts and more swam through her head, and it left her filled with doubt and despair. _Was my life all a lie? _she asked herself. Hearing Chrono's footsteps, she quickly dove back under the covers.

Listening from under her blanket she heard Chrono reopen the door. When he Alicia's still sleeping figure, he sighed and left the room once more. After making sure he had shut the door, Alicia returned to her sitting position and looked out the window. Seeing the Yuusei's fire consume Mid-Childa she asked herself, "If I had known the truth, would I be like him?"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back where Prometheus and Pandora were fighting the TSAB mages and knights, the reaper and witch siblings weren't doing so well. Every attack they attempted was pushed back and quickly countered. That counter was quickly followed by an attack, they couldn't keep up.<p>

Prometheus growled at them as he tapped the ground with his scythe, a magic circle appearing beneath him. "We _will _finish this sometime soon," he warned. Looking at Nanoha and Fate he grinned cruelly and said, "I just can't wait until you two see what your little brat looks like going all out. He'll be a monster for all to see, just like his devil of a mother!"

Nanoha's face became twisted, rage apparent in her eyes as she quickly readied Raising Heart and mercilessly unleashed several divine busters at once. Prometheus laughed cruelly as they teleported away, causing all three shots to miss. Nanoha's hands shook as she gripped Raising Heart.

Worrying for her partner, Fate quickly placed a hand over hers. "We don't know what he's talking about yet Nanoha, let's not assume the worst," she advised.

Nanoha smiled at Fate, hugging her before saying quietly, "I want to sleep close together tonight."

Fate smiled and nodded to her. "Okay," she whispered back.

On the other hand, was striking a pensive pose, staring off in the general direction of Einhart's house. "Hm…"

_What's a matter Touma? _Lily asked.

"It's strange," he whispered.

_What is? _she asked.

"I sense an energy signature that's almost exactly like the eclipse virus. It's coming from this direction," he said quietly, motioning towards where he was staring.

_What do you think it could mean? _

"I don't know yet. Prometheus and Pandora were similar cases. While they at least were using eclipse magic, their energy signatures were slightly different from mine and the Hucklebein family's; however, these signals are slightly more different than theirs were."

_What should we do? _

"I'm gonna sneak away. We'll take Isis with us just in case, but we're gonna go check it out," Touma told her.

He could hear Lily humming in his head. _Okay, let's get moving then. Remember, we have to report to Hayate-san in the morning, _she reminded.

Touma nodded. After sensing that their conversation was over, he quietly strolled over to Isis and tapped her shoulder. "There's another signal not too far from here. Lily and I are gonna go check it out. You in?" he asked.

Isis nodded with a grin. "Always," she answered.

Looking towards everyone else, he said, "Hey guys! Uh, our unit is gonna go check something out. We'll see you all tomorrow at the post-mission briefing!" he told them loudly.

Signum crossed her arms, eyeing the two curiously. Touma mentally cursed, Signum was probably aware of what he was planning to do. It wasn't hard to sense such a potent energy signal.

"Do you want back up?" she asked. It wasn't really a question, it was an order.

"U-Uh sure," Touma stuttered, "You can come along if you'd like Signum."

Signum smirked before saying, "I'm leaving with the Silver Unit as well."

Fate raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you want us to come with you guys?"

Signum shook her head, smiling. "Don't worry, they have me with them. We'll be fine," she told her.

Fate seemed hesitant, but eventually nodded her head in defeat. "Alright then Signum, but please be safe," she said to her worriedly.

Signum nodded to her. "Of course," she replied.

With that, the unit of four sped off in the direction of the strange, new signal while everyone else watched with intense suspicion.

_That's too weird, why would they go to check it out immediately? Usually Signum asks Hayate-san before heading out like this, _Erio thought to himself. Looking around, he noticed everyone's faces were filled with suspicion. Noting that it must be due to the strange energy signal they were all reading, he said to the crowd, "I'll follow them in secret, Caro will come with me. Anyone else want to come with me?"

Nanoha and Fate stepped forward. "We're going," they said almost immediately. They said it so quickly they had almost cut Erio off at the end of his offer.

Erio looked back in the direction Signum was heading along with Unit Silver. It was in the direction of Einhart's house. Realizing this, he understood their worries. "Alright, let's wait awhile before heading there," Erio told them.

"You got it Captain Erio," the two replied teasing.

Looking at everyone else, Nanoha said, "I think if the party is too large, things might get hectic so I think our secondary unit should be large enough. Everyone else, please return to Hayate and tell her what's happening."

"Roger," everyone else replied. That is, everyone else with the exception of Vita.

"Me too," she said. "I'm going too," she told them.

After everyone had left, Erio gave her the nod of approval. "We will wait about three minutes. It will give them time to get there and walk through the door. That way, it won't seem like we're tailing them," he told them quietly.

During the recent years, Erio was being trained to become a captain himself. Because of this, he was often enrolled in courses that revolved around battle strategy.

After everyone agreed, they began their wait, and it was a wait that would seem like an eternity for them.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the Stratos residence, the doorbell sounded. Einhart raised an eyebrow, but balled her fist in worry that it may be ex-comrades of Yuusei's. "I'm getting the door Vivio," she said seriously.<p>

Vivio nodded. "Okay," she said as the minty-haired girl left to answer the door.

When Einhart finally arrived at the door, she opened it to find Signum and Unit Silver there waiting for her. "O-Oh, hello everyone, why the late visi-"

"Do you have guests Stratos?" Signum interjected.

Einhart smiled nervously. "K-Kind of, would you like to meet them?" she stuttered. Looking at them, she added, "But please return to your unarmed forms, you'll scare them."

Raising an eyebrow, Signum and Unit Silver complied. Touma went as far as to disengage from Lily.

Looking at all of them, she nodded her head and decided that it was finally safe to let them in. "Okay, come in. They're in the living room upstairs with Vivio," she told them.

It was a good thing that Einhart had a big house. While those five ventured to the living room, they were unaware that this little gathering was about to become the meeting for all of Section-6 for about five hours.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes: <span>

Well, so much for keeping anyone from showing up at the house. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter and look forward to the next.


	8. Mother and Son Part I

Chronicle VIII: Mother and Son Part I

When Yuusei and Koga had caught sight of Einhart's four guests, they immediately re-armored, causing Signum to immediately withdraw Lavaetein, and Touma to react. Isis seemed to be the only one not quite ready to draw out her weapon. Vivio immediately stood between the two and yelled to the young boys, "Wait, wait- they're on our side!"

Signum shook her head. "What are those two doing here Vivio-san?" she asked sternly.

Yuusei eyed her for a moment before making his way behind Vivio, just barely standing beside his sister. "You were the one I fought yesterday aren't you?" he asked.

"Correct. I am Signum, and this is Lavaetein," she confirmed. "Boy, what is your name?"

Staring her down, he answered, "My name, no, my _real _name is Yuusei Takamachi, son of Nanoha Takamachi, who if I recall, is your captain's best friend." Revealing a magic circle beneath his palm, flames burst forth from his fists.

Signum eyed the flames intently. She was intrigued by the boy's ferocity, for it was a stark contrast to his mother, who would rather to resolve matters through dialogue. _Such strong mana at a young age, he is definitely the one. Still, I wonder why he can use fire mana, _she thought to herself. "Where did you learn that conversion?" she asked.

Yuusei shook his head. "It came to me one day while I was fighting with Koga in a sparring match. I needed a reason for him to avoid my fists. Next thing I knew- BOOM! My hands were on fire!" he explained.

Signum felt her grip on Lavaetein slacken. His innocence was still well in-tact despite his appearance on the battlefield. "Very well. Who are these other three?"

Yuusei looked back to them, and eventually back to Signum, a reacted Touma, and Isis. His eyes narrowed suspiciously on Touma. "I want the two behind you to introduce themselves first," he answered.

Touma stepped forward. "I'm Touma Avenir, an Eclipse Driver. My plug, who you saw earlier, is named Lily," he told the younger boy.

_Nice to meet you,_ the plug told him over telepathy.

Isis smiled at the four runaways and gave them a relaxed wave. "And I'm Isis. Touma and I came here to check out a signal like the Eclipse Virus." Looking at the two boys, she asked, "You guys know anything about it?"

Koga and Yuusei looked at each other and grinned. "'Know about it?'" Koga repeated; amusement evident in his voice.

"We have an ability similar to it called Chaos Drive, but we can only use it with a resonator. The two you guys should have been fighting tonight, Prometheus and Pandora, are the ones who use the Eclipse Virus," Yuusei explained.

At that moment, Aerith and Olivia stood, causing the entire crowd to stand at attention with the exceptions of Yuusei and Koga, who continued to grin ear-to-ear.

"Ready to show off?" Koga asked cockily.

Yuusei snickered. "Just don't screw up," he answered.

The two reached their hands over the navel of both girls, causing two respective magic circles to appear. Aerith's was a bright whitish-silver, while Olivia's was gold with green sparks. The magic circle then began to divide into multiple rings and gathered around the two boys. After that, they began to spin, creating a large, spinning pillar of light around the two of them.

"Chaos… DRIVE!" the two yelled as they light settled. They appeared once again in the forms they had used during their little escape earlier this evening.

Yuusei's now golden eyes gleamed with confidence as he withdrew a white and gold katana. "Elysian-style magic is a type of magic created by using all of the elements of close combat similar to the Belkan-system, but more similar to the Ancient Belkan-system than the newer one," he told the crowd.

Koga nodded, adding, "What's more is that unlike the Belkan system, you can almost perfectly replicate the effects of a Mid-Childan spell with this magic system. The only drawbacks are that unlike other schools of magic, this one can't be overwritten, and it renders the user unable to use magic entirely without a resonator."

Everyone stood agape at the explanation, but Vivio tilted her head. "'Overwritten?'" she repeated.

Yuusei nodded. "Normally, you do have the potential to learn a new magic-system if desire to do so; however, with this system, we're stuck like this. We also can no longer survive without the independent energy sharing of our resonators. If we are separated at a certain distance for longer than about seventy-two hours," Yuusei paused. He looked around the room, and then out towards the window.

Noticing the new energies, Koga smirked as he said, "Looks like you have more guests."

Einhart nodded, raising an eyebrow as she cautiously made her way down the stairs.

Meanwhile, outside, Erio, Caro, Nanoha, Fate, and Vita stood outside of the Stratos residence. Vita's arms were crossed as she impatiently tapped her foot. "Geez that Stratos girl takes forever," she muttered grouchily.

Nanoha smiled, giggling lightly. "Nyahaha, oh Vita, she's just a kid!" she reminded.

Vita huffed, obviously not accepting the excuse. She ceased her tapping, but kept her eyes trained on the door.

Eventually, Einhart did open the door, but when she saw Nanoha and Fate, her eyes filled with panic! _Oh no! Vivio! Your mothers are here! _she mentally warned.

Vivio grew tense, but eventually regained her composure. _Let them in Einhart. _

_But-_

_Don't worry. She wanted to see him just as bad as I did._

…_Very well, _Einhart replied quietly. Moving aside, she said, "Everyone's on the second floor. Please, make yourselves at home."

Meanwhile, Yuusei, Koga, and Touma were exchanging information between the Eclipse Virus and their Elysian magic.

"So you're saying they made this style from Belkan magic?" Touma asked.

The two boys nodded. "So to say Elysian is its own kind of magic would be inaccurate. It's more of an offshoot of the Ancient Belkan style of magic that attempted to fully cover the weakness of its predecessor," Koga replied.

Touma struck a pensive pose as he thought to himself, _I wonder if the same is true for the Eclipse Virus._

_Well it is a lost logia, _Lily began, _so it is possible. _

Everyone was in the middle of their own interactions. The boys were with Touma, Isis was catching up with Vivio, and Erio and Caro seemed to be relaxing on a nearby couch paying little attention to their surroundings. All of this came to a sudden halt when a certain white devil's voice pierced the room.

"YUUSEI!" she yelled frantically as she charged the currently white-haired boy. As she approached him, but boy summoned forth a sword-cannon looking weapon and held it in a defensive stance. Nanoha stepped back, horribly shocked.

Yuusei stared at her, his eyes never wavering. "Who are you?" he asked sternly.

Nanoha was devastated that he didn't know, but her face continued to uphold her strong composure. "I'm Nanoha Takamachi, and I'm, well, your mother," she answered.

Yuusei looked up at her. She did indeed resemble the distant memories he held, but what had nailed the coffin was that she had given him her name.

"Why?" He asked quietly.

Nanoha looked at him, suddenly confused. "Is something wrong Yuusei?"

"You're damn right something was wrong! I was trapped in a freaking laboratory my entire life! Do you know how lonely I was? Do you know how much I had to deal with? And then Ivory-onee chan ran away from the lab and they… and they!" the boy broke down into a senseless fit of wailing. His comrade, Koga, stood completely shocked by the sudden outburst.

Nanoha's eyes widened with shame. How could she have let the poor boy suffer so greatly? Even if they had no idea of where the boy was being held, Nanoha could not escape the vast amount of guilt that had now wedged itself into her heart. She crouched down, embracing the little boy. "I'm sorry," she said, her own eyes filling with tears. "I'm so sorry!" she said through uncontrollable sobs. Sure enough, both mother and son were drowning in their own tears.

Fate, not liking to see Nanoha cry, made a step forward to do something about it, but was immediately stopped by Signum. "I don't think it's going to end this beautifully Testarossa," she said cryptically.

Fate raised an eyebrow, but soon realized what she had meant when she sensed the massive amount of hostile energy building up around Yuusei.

Nanoha looked down at him, only now noticing his white hair and golden eyes. "What happened to you? I seem to remember a different appearance," she said quietly.

Yuusei shook his head. "I recently acquired started using the Elysian system, so I had to use a device called Divinum to channel my energy to be able to use magic," Yuusei explained.

There was silence, but the boy suddenly began to grit his teeth. "…Fight me," the boy said quietly.

Nanoha looked down at him, confused by his words. "What?" she asked.

"I said fight me!" Yuusei exclaimed. Standing back up, he this time summoned a black katana. "You said you were sorry right? You're the great White Devil aren't you?" Glaring down at her, he said, "So that means you should have no problems in taking me down right here, right now!"

Nanoha sat there in shock, but eventually quiet smile crept onto her face. "Sure," she replied. Suddenly, her smile blossomed fully with a final tear. "Nothing would make me happier than to see what you're made of!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

Yuusei was surprised by the positive response, but decided to go with it anyway. "Then, let's go right now, outside!" he told her.

Nanoha smiled and nodded. "Yeah, okay!" she replied. The two immediately made their way to the door leading into the hallway when they were met halfway by Fate.

Yuusei eyed the woman with shock. _This woman, she looks like Ivory-onee chan and Alicia-chan, _he thought to himself. Looking at her a little more closely, he thought to himself, _Must be Nanoha's parter- Fate Testarossa,_ thought to boy. His eyes stilled trained on her, a final thought swam across his mind. _She's beautiful…_

Fate noticed the boys stares, and finding them all too familiar, smiled playfully at the boy. "Geez, you're so much like your mother," she teased. Without warning, she lowered herself to his level and embraced him to with her blinding speed. "Welcome home, Yuu-kun," she told him sweetly.

Yuusei flushed, his embarrassment rising astronomically. "W-What? Hold on a sec!" he yelled frantically as he struggled out of the blonde's grip. His burning-red face had the entire room filled with laughter.

From behind, Erio strolled behind the boy and ruffled his hair. "It's alright kiddo, I think anyone who's known Fate had the same kind of reaction," he said reassuringly.

Yuusei looked down, still embarrassed from his reaction. "O-Oh," he answered quietly.

Nanoha laughed, taking the young knight's hand in hers. "Still ready to go, Yuusei?" she asked warmly.

Yuusei's body returned to an all-business stance. "Let's roll," he replied loudly.

A few minutes later, the two stood across from each other. Everyone had left the building to come and spectate. Vivio watched the fight with eyes seemingly unreadable. Memories flashed by of when Nanoha had to battle with her life on the line to save her, and now, Yuusei and Nanoha had a battle of their own, to make up for lost time. _It's fitting in a way, _she told Einhart over telepathy.

Einhart watched Yuusei warm up, replying, _Like mother like son I suppose. I wonder if your brother has any skills in martial arts._

_Now, now, Ein-chan, let's not beat up on my cute little brother. _

Einhart frowned. _I told you to stop calling me that! _Seeing an angle she could use against her beloved friend, she added, _And what of you Vivio? You've become an overprotective big sister in half-an-hour._

_H-Hey! I'm just the same with Alicia-chan!_

Einhart giggled. _I didn't say it was a bad thing. Actually, it's kind of cute, _she told her coolly.

Vivio flushed. _W-What? Einhart-san! _

Einhart giggled embraced the girl from behind. "I win," she whispered mockingly.

Vivio grinned. "Careful, we might have to another sparring match tomorrow," she warned.

"Come at me," Einhart urged.

Just before things could get anymore steamy, Fate interrupted the growing cozy atmosphere with a quick, "Ahem."

Faces brighter than a red stoplight, the two quickly separated and silently apologized to Fate who only smiled, rolled her eyes, and shook her head.

The wind howled and lightly brushed up against Yuusei and Nanoha. The white devil stared down her son intently.

Yuusei on the other hand, held a wild and hateful glare in his eyes. _Aerith, we're gonna go all out! I want you to use Army-of-One when she gets tired, _he mentally commanded.

_You got it, _Aerith replied.

The two were ready for her, Yuusei wielding his first choice for the battle: a black katana. "Weapon-Trans! Celestial Arms- Athena!" he yelled, brandishing the blade.

Nanoha raised an eyebrow, impressed by the unfamiliar technique and the power it was emitting. _What an impressive aura, _she thought to herself excitedly. Smiling at he son, she exclaimed, "Come at me!"

Yuusei did as he was told, almost disappearing in a silent flash. He reappeared directly in front of her, bringing down his sword as if it were a mighty hammer. Steel collided with steel, but Nanoha held up Raising Heart's staff strongly. She was unmoved by his attack. "You'll need to do better than that!" Nanoha warned.

A burst of magic light shot from Nanoha's free hand, knocking the boy away from her. Yuusei immediately stood up, a magic circle of his own appearing before him. From the red circle, a red laser covered in fire burst forth. Nanoha barely managed to protect herself from it, using Protection EX to just barely weaken the blast.

She smiled at him. The technique was similar to the Divine Buster, but it was a more fire-based version of it and the output was slightly weaker to conserve energy. "He's got talent," she muttered quietly. She was excited. For the first time in years, Nanoha felt alive in a battle of wills. Brandishing her staff she yelled, "That all you got?"

Yuusei shook his head, grinning ear to ear. "You haven't seen anything yet!"

The two collided once more. A battle between mother and son had finally begun, but to the spectators, it was a battle between devils.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes: <span>

Aw isn't that cute? Mother and son making up for lost time by going all out in a sparring match? Yep, that's definitely Nanoha! Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter and look forward to the next!


	9. Mother and Son Part II

Chronicle IX: Mother and Son Part II

Yuusei charged Nanoha with his weapon at the ready. Obviously no one had told the poor boy about Nanoha's more subtle means of countering frontal assaults. In no time flat, the boy had disappeared in a blur of motion and had reappeared in front of the white-clad mage.

Nanoha looked up with surprise. _He's pretty fast, _she thought to herself. With little time to waste, the white-clad mage quickly raised her staff over her head, just barely managing to intercept a powerful slash from Yuusei's katana.

_Clang! _

Red and pink colored lights flared from the two mages as they collided. Golden eyes stared hatefully into a pair of loving blue eyes. Cringing, Yuusei tightened his grip on Athena.

[Milord, please move away from her.] rang out a metallic voice.

Yuusei's eyes widened as a magic circle appeared in front of Nanoha's staff. _Ah crap, it's a trap! _he thought to himself. Unfortunately for Yuusei, he was too slow to notice and Nanoha now had him bound with the chains of her spell.

"Nyahahaha, you're a hasty one," teased Nanoha. Twirling her staff, the white-clad mage said, "Let me show you a better way to attack your opponent."

Yuusei had no intentions of waiting to see what Nanoha's idea of a "better attack" looked like. Struggling against the chains, Yuusei desperately attempted to cut himself free with Athena, but it was too late. The chains had locked his arms into place. Any attempt to use the Athena would run the risk of slicing his arms clean off of his body. "D-Damn it!" he yelled.

_What should we do now Yuusei? _asked Aerith.

Yuusei shook his head. As he watched Nanoha ascend into the sky, he replied, _Nothing just yet. We have to try and bait her. Knowing Nanoha, she'll probably go for a shooting spell. When she does, I want you to use Army of One under the cover of the spell's light. Got it? _

_Got it, _answered Aerith.

Yuusei looked skyward to see that a powerful sphere of magic was gathering around Raising Heart. Blanching, he thought to himself, _Starlight Breaker? No, it's too early. She wouldn't have enough risidual mana on the field. So this attack has to be-_

The blue-eyed boy didn't have the chance to finish his thought as Nanoha brought down her staff, swinging it against the sphere of mana. "Starlight Burst!" she cried.

Yuusei's eyes widened with surprise, gazing up at the slowly bursting sphere. "W-What?" It was too late to react, the powerful beam of pink energy was racing toward him at an incredible speed. There was no time to think of a new plan. Yuusei would have to hope that his current plan would work. _We have no choice, do it now Aerith! _

Aerith said nothing; however, a metallic voice rang out from the Athena. "Celestial Division- Army of One!"

A pillar of white light blocked Nanoha's assault, shocking everyone who was observing the battle.

"N-No way," muttered Touma with surprise.

"He blocked a direct attack from Miss Nanoha," muttered Einhart. "Vivio, I must fight with that boy."

Vivio laughed sheepishly. "Now, now, let's just calm down Ein-chan." In reality, Vivio was equally as surprised. She knew that Yuusei must have had a decent amount of skill to have escaped from Signum, but to block an attack from Nanoha was either a sign of talent or a sign of dumb luck.

Fate watched on, not sure of who to worry for more. Just as she was about to say something, Signum placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Relax Testarossa, I can sense the boy. He's fine. Him aside, you know that Nanoha will be fine."

Fate seemed a bit surprised that Signum was able to see through her worries, but nodded happily anyway. "R-Right. Thanks Signum," said the blonde swordswoman.

Signum smiled, but said no more. Instead, she returned her gaze to the battle, arms crossed as the light began to fade. _How will the boy approach this? He's aware that Nanoha's magical output is far greather than his own now,_ she thought to herself. Narrowing her eyes, Signum thought to herself, _Yuusei was it? What will you do now? _

As the light from the pillar faded, Nanoha and the crowd were astonished by what they saw. Yuusei had returned to his original appearance- auburn hair and deep-blue eyes; however, what had changed were the number of combatants. Yuusei now stood alongside four women, each of them much taller than him. One had glowing blue eyes and long, black hair done in twin braids. The second, slightly shorter than the first, had silvery-white hair done in twintails and glowing teal eyes. The third, the shortest, had brown hair and glowing red eyes. At last, the fourth had blonde hair done in a ponytail with purple eyes.

Yuusei kept his gaze trained on Nanoha, who seemed intrigued by the turn of events. _This is the final bout. I have to put everything into this last move! _he thought to himself.

Nanoha gazed down at the four women, surprised by their appearance, but confused as well. "I've never heard of a Unison Device that could split into four people," said the white-clad mage with curiosity evident in her voice.

Grinning, Yuusei said, "That's because she's a one of a kind! Aerith's one of the first ever Quad-Core Unison Device!"

Everyone gazed up in shock. Agito, who had been laying low within Signum's hair, thought to herself, _What a real freak show! And I thought that the Eclipse Wierdoes were bad! _

Fate gulped worriedly. _This is bad. Those girls each have magical power levels comparable to Signum's. Nanoha can't fight four of those at once while dealing with Yuusei! _she thought to herself. Looking up at Nanoha, she sent a message over telepathy. _Nanoha! He's dangerous now! Be careful-_

_I know, _replied Nanoha. _Fate-chan, if you can, please stay out of this._

_But Nanoha- _

_I guess I'm gonna have to take out all five of them at once! Nyahahaha, don't worry, this kinda stuff is my specialty!_

Fate felt like slapping her palm against her face. Nanoha was always like this, but this situation was entirely different. Nanoha could really die. Her Nanoha, her best friend, could die if something went wrong. Regardless, she had to trust her. _Okay, _she finally said with defeat.

Nanoha smiled gently, summoning all four of her blaster bits. _Thanks, Fate-chan. _Aiming them down at the five warriors, she said, "Your first mistake was summoning such powerful warriors all at once! Now I have more than enough energy to go all out!"

Yuusei raised an eyebrow, but paled when he too realized his mistake. The white mana that had brought forth his secret weapon was now being fed into a progressively growing sphere of pink mana. _O-Oh no! _Looking to the four girls around him, he yelled, "Pattern Beta- All Out Assault!"

The four girls quickly withdrew their weapons. The first held a katana, the second held a swordcannon, the third held a hammer, while the fourth held a spear. Mana began to gather around them as they charged their attacks. As they did so, the chains that bound Yuusei's arms disappeared.

Sighing with relief, Yuusei summoned his own staff and began to charge up an attack of his own. _That attack is defintely dangerous, but let's see how she likes this,_ he thought to himself deviously. The boy's confidence was unwavering, that is, until he discovered that something was horribly wrong. _No freaking way! _Looking up, Yuusei realized that the mana his four warriors were charging up was being absorbed into the pink sphere of mana, along with his own mana. It was as if Nanoha's spell had become a black hole of mana, sucking in any bit of magical energy around it.

Fate paled, quickly turning around to face the crowd. "Everyone summon up a barrier or three, she's gonna use _that!_" cried the blonde swordswoman fearfully.

Vivio's shoulder twitched slightly as she pulled Einhart beside her and obediently began placing barriers around them and Einhart's house. Einhart looked up in surprise, having never seen Vivio look so afraid. "What's the matter Vivio?"

Vivio shook her head. "You don't wanna know what that attack's gonna do. If we don't set up at least a few barriers, we're all in big trouble!" yelled the blonde fearfully.

Blinking, Einhart began to summon barriers of her own. _If Vivio's this worked up, that attack has to be really dangerous. _Einhart looked up to notice that _everyone _was summoning up as many barriers as they possibly could. It was only then that Einhart noticed that Nanoha's attack was sucking up the mana from their barriers as well! Gaping, Einhart thought to herself, _Oh my gosh! _

Yuusei stared up at the pink sphere, now eclipsing the very moon as his mother loomed over him in the air. "N-Now that's a devil," he muttered to himself worriedly. Staring up at the blast, he gulped before grinning madly. "Ta hell with it! Aerith, Silver, Claire, Rein, we're going all out!" The four nodded to him and continued to charge their attacks. Readying their weapons, all five of the warriors released their attacks- five gigantic waves of mana. They hadn't bothered to name the spell, fearing that they would not be able to intercept Nanoha's attack in time. Alas, it was far too late.

Swinging her staff down, Nanoha whispered the name of her terrifying spell. "Starlight Zero."

_BOOOM! _

As soon as Nanoha's staff collided with the sphere of mana, a gigantic blast the likes of which no one had ever seen before ripped through Yuusei's team's assault and engulfed them in a blinding pink light. Not even their screams of pain were audible over the gigantic boom of the blast.

Everyone gazed on in awe. Indeed this was a duel between mother and son; however, the gap between them was more than terrifying. When the light faded, Yuusei was completely unconscious, laying beside a girl that looked similar to the first warrior that he had summoned. The only exception was that this girl had silvery-white hair. Covered in bruises and bleeding from their arms, the pair of combatants were somehow still alive.

Noticing the damage, Nanoha quickly descended and scooped Yuusei into her arms, cradling him gently. "That hurt me more than it did you," she whispered quietly. Looking over to Fate and then motioning to Aerith's unconscious body, Nanoha whispered, "Fate, come help me with her."

Fate quickly obliged, lifting Aerith from the ground with grace that would put any gentleman to shame. Just as she made her way to Nanoha's side, a voice stopped the two of them dead in their tracks.

"Mama! Wait!" cried Vivio. Running up to the two of them, she asked, "Where are you going with them?"

Nanoha smiled, ruffling Vivio's hair. "Don't worry. We're just taking them to the infirmary," answered the white-clad mage. Looking down at the unconscious boy in her hands, Nanoha said, "It's going to be okay."

Vivio paused, turning around without a word. "Alrighty then. I better be able to visit him when he wakes up though," she said with an unusually demanding tone of voice.

Giggling, Nanoha replied, "You bet." With that, the white-clad mage summoned forth a instant transmission circle and warped away to the infirmary with Fate by her side.

Koga, who still stood beside Signum, only looked on in complete and utter shock. "Y-Yuusei lost..." It was brief, but it was needless to say that Yuusei and Koga both had gotten a crash course lesson in just how scary the famous White Devil could be.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes:<p>

I live again! I hope the battle met your expectations. For those who wanted a longer fight, I do appologize, but it's still early in the story and no OC should be able to fight Nanoha of all people on totally even ground. Of course, I gave Nanoha quite a terrifying upgrade myself xD Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Photon!


	10. Mother and Son Part III

Chronicle X: Mother and Son Part III

_Beep... Beep... Beep... _

Yuusei stirred irritably, stretching slowly as he attempted to sit up. He looked around- eventually realizing that his eyes were closed. Managing to grab hold of his head, he muttered, "God_ damn_ that hurt."

"Nyahaha, sorry about that. I guess I hit you harder than I thought I did. Then again, that spell's still being perfected so I might still have the output a little wrong," replied a playful voice.

Struggling to open his eyes, Yuusei cringed as the bright lights of what was apparently a hospital room flooded his vision. "Gah, too bright." Looking around, he eventually found Nanoha sitting beside his hospital bed. Looking down, he soon realized that he had an IV attached to his arm. "Wh-Why are you here?" he asked defensively. "Don't you have to go to work or something?"

Nanoha shook her head. "That can wait," answered the white devil. "What I _do _want to know is what you and Koga are doing attacking Mid-Childa."

The auburn-haired boy sighed. Indeed, this was his mother- straightforward and too the point. "I honestly don't know," replied Yuusei. "The doctor who's been raising me simply dropped me off with some woman under the name of Precia Testarossa. After that, my orders were to assist Prometheus and Pandora in attacking Mid-Childa and causing dimensional tremors." Glaring at his mother, Yuusei added, "Of course, I probably wouldn't be doing stuff like this had I not been abandoned."

The boy's words cut viciously into Nanoha's heart. What had they told him? What horrible lies had they told her little boy to turn him against her like this? Nanoha didn't know, but it was tearing her apart inside. Then, the name Precia rang out in Nanoha's in mind. The cause of Fate's suffering, now the cause of her own son's suffering- if Nanoha hadn't been holding back her rage, she probably would have destroyed the very room she sat in at this particular moment. Holding her tears, the auburn-haired woman asked, "Is that what they told you?" Unintentionally, her mana began to flare, so much so that Yuusei began to pale from fear. "Is that the lie they told you? _WELL?_"

Yuusei nodded nervously. "Y-Yeah," he answered weakly. The auburn-haired mage struggled to stand, but cringed with pain. "I-I can't move."

The white devil ignored her son's complaint and stood from her chair. "I want you to stay here. Fate-chan will be coming to check in on you soon, so don't anywhere. I need to talk about this with everyone else." As she walked away, the mechanical door slid open. Before stepping full stepping out into the hallway, Nanoha said, "Please, just stay there. Okay?" Her voice was hoarse- almost lost in tone. With that, the white devil journeyed down the hallway and out of sight as the door closed behind her.

Yuusei was left alone in his hospital room. Figuring it was worth a shot, he tried to send Koga a telepathic message. _Koga, are you there? _

There was a moment's delay before Koga finally replied. _Ah, Yuusei, you're up! Thank god, I thought your mom killed you the other day with how hard she railed you! _

The auburn-haired boy tilted his head. _What do you mean Koga? It's morning now, so that means I've only been out for a few hours. _

_Sorry man, it's been a bit longer than that. You've been out of it for about a month. _

"What?" Yuusei nearly managed to get out of his hospital bed, but alas his body was still in far too much pain to move. "Tch, d-damn it all!" Staring at a bonsai tree left for him on a counter, Yuusei sent yet another message to his best friend. _How is that even possible? My injuries couldn't possible have been that severe! _

Koga hummed to himself. _Well, you see, _began the blue-eyed boy, _The Elysian System started acting up with your linker core again. When that was discovered, they took some time to do some research on it and see if there was a way to reverse it; however, while they were doing so, they found a problem. __  
><em>

Cocking his eyebrow, Yuusei asked, _Which was? _

The dark-brown-haired boy remained silent for a while. _Your linker core was being destroyed by the Elysian System. Upon inspection, Olivia and Aerith were shown to have unnecessary strain on their bodies as well. According to the data, it seems as if this may have been intentional in the event that any of us went rogue. By forcing us to be under constant maintenance, they could ensure that we couldn't disobey the higher-ups for too long without kicking the bucket. _

Yuusei sighed and leaned against the wall of his hospital bed. _Well haven't you been busy, _he began sarcastically. _How the heck did you get them to let you see the data? __  
><em>

_Well, _began Koga, _It wasn't hard really. I just asked that they let me watch them when they checked up on you and they just let me sit in on everything. Only thing is- I bet you're having trouble moving right now, right? _

Cringing, Yuusei asked, _Gee, how did you_ _know?_

There was silence.

Finally, Koga answered, _When they were checking up on you, they did find a way to restore our magic systems; but, when they did, your linker core had finally reached its breaking point. You began to go into heart failure and they had to quickly put together a theoretical surgery to fix your linker core and re-convert it from the Elysian Magic System to the magic system codes used today. They didn't even have time to test it. I was pretty worried man! Anyway, most of your spells probably won't work anymore and you'll have to relearn them with the Mid-Childan and/or Belkan Magic Systems. __  
><em>

Yuusei's eye went wide. "You're kidding me! Are you serious Koga?" he yelled aloud.

Koga sighed. _Dude, no need to shout, _he said lazily. _Yeah, it's true. Your body was in critical condition by the time they had begun, so you were left in a mild coma. Your mom's been coming to visit you every morning and every evening since they put you under. So has Captain Fate for that matter. Aerith's already undergone surgery and is up and running with Olivia and I. Supposedly, Olivia and I are supposed to come for the adjustment surgery ourselves sometime this week. _

Looking down at his hand, Yuusei replied, _...I see. _Staring at his hospital wall, he said, _I need to think about all of this. Mind giving me a minute? __  
><em>

_Yeah, _answered Koga, _you just take it easy-_

"Kyah!" screamed a girlish voice. _Crash! _Faster than light, whoever had made that scream was down and on the floor in the small hospital room.

Yuusei tried to rise from his bed, but he soon cringed with pain. _"_Gah! Damned surgery!"

_Yu-Yuusei? Something wrong? _asked Koga worriedly.

Staring at the ground, Yuusei caught sight of who had caused all of the ruckus. A familiar little girl with long blonde hair. He could barely recognize her without her barrier jacket, but there was no mistaking that this was the girl. "Y-You," said Yuusei slowly.

Squirming and groaning, Alicia picked herself up from the floor. Once she had done so, she immediately began to bow to Yuusei and began to apologize profusely for her barging in. "I-I'm sorry!" she yelled, "You just looked kind of angry and I didn't want to bother you!" Bowing once more, she shouted, "I'm sorry!"

"Huh? Alicia-chan? Why are you here?" asked Fate as she made her way through the still-open door. Looking at the sitting up Yuusei, she said, "Oh, good. You're awake!" Without a moment's delay, the blonde swordswoman immediately made her way to the auburn-haired boy and offered him a small bar of candy. "It's a bit unhealthy, but I'm sure you're hungry after being asleep for so long."

Yuusei eyed the woman nervously before slowly accepting her gift. "Th-Thank you," he said before immediately checking the wrapper for any kind of tampering. "Hmm, looks safe," he muttered as he began to open the wrapper. A chuckle caught his attention. Looking up, he saw Fate giggling at his antics. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Uh, did I do something funny?"

Shaking her head, Fate replied, "No, not at all. It was just a little refreshing, that's all." Watching him hold the candy bar in his hands, Fate thought to herself, _How distrustful. He made sure to check something as small as a candy bar for poison. _Narrowing her eyes, she thought to herself, _Just what did they do to this child? __  
><em>

Seeing the intense stare he was getting, Yuusei said, "A lot's happened. Back at the training barracks, we lived under two rules- live or die. If you wanted to live, you had to do your best to survive. If you didn't," Yuusei paused to take out a piece of his candy bar before squeezing the now-vacant part of the wrapper. "You met an incredibly slow and painful death."

Alicia nervously walked up to Yuusei, staring him in the eye. _U-Um, _she began over telepathy.

Noting that the message was directed at him, Yuusei took the young girl's words as meaning that she didn't want Fate to hear her. Grinning wryly, he teased, _So I was right. You_ _**ar****_en't _**_a real TSAB agent, are you?__

The shorter blonde shook her head. _Nope. My mom's the person next to me. From what I hear, Nanoha-mama's your mother. _Smiling a little, she said, _So that makes you my older brother doesn't it? _

Yuusei rose an eyebrow. _Last I recall, only Ivory shares a biological parent with me. You on the other hand only have Fate as a mother. I see no reason to call me that, _replied the auburn-haired knight densely.

Alicia shook her head. _It's okay! Vivio-Onee isn't my biological sister and we're still sisters; therefore, if you're Vivio-Onee's little brother, than you're my Onii-san. __  
><em>

Feeling his left eyebrow twitching, Yuusei thought to himself, _What a carefree kid. _Staring at Alicia intently, he said, _I advise that you give up on that notion. _Motioning with his eyes to his hands, he added, _I still have a job to finish if you catch my drift. __  
><em>

Seeing how intently the two children were staring at each other, Fate giggled as she asked, "I see that the two of you are having quite the conversation. You two remind me a lot of Nanoha and myself when we were younger." Looking at them again, she added, "Though, I feel things have gotten reversed a little."

The auburn-haired boy sighed. "Look, I've heard a bit from Koga. I'm grateful that you guys apparently saved my backside, but we really have to leave." Finally managing to stand and remove his IV, Yuusei bit through the pain as he said, "Even if Koga and I can't go back to Precia, we're only causing trouble by staying here."

Fate blanched and dropped the clipboard she was holding. Yuusei flinched at the sudden reaction, backing up a few steps and staring at her from a distance. A moment later, Fate asked, "Did you just say, Precia?"

* * *

><p>While Fate was talking with Yuusei, Nanoha was in the middle of meeting up with Koga, Erio, and Caro. Waving as she ran up to them, Nanoha yelled, "Hi everyone! Sorry that I'm late. Yuusei finally woke up."<p>

Erio chuckled a little as he waved back. "We heard from Koga a few moments ago. I guess he and Yuusei were talking a little."

Caro smiled as she patted a seat beside her. "Anyway, sit down. We've got plenty to talk about!"

Nanoha excitedly took a seat beside Caro. Everything seemed fine until Koga caught sight of how red Nanoha's eyes were. "I-I guess he gave you a hard time, huh?" asked Koga nervously. When Nanoha turned his way to reply, he quickly put up his hands and said, "S-Sorry, I-I just... Well..." Sighing, he said, "Try to give him some space, alright? He's never exactly been a cuddly kind of guy."

There was silence.

Seeing how Koga had effectively killed the conversation, Caro chimed, "A-Anyway, how about we order? I'm totally famished-"

"How do you do it?" asked Nanoha with a near desperate tone of voice.

Koga tilted his head. "How do I do what? Talk with Yuusei? It's simple. He's kind of robotic, so if you talk to him like normal, he has a tendency to at least give a one-word reply."

Looking away, Nanoha asked, "What did they do to him?" Looking at Koga intently, she asked, "What did they do to my son?"

The dark-haired boy looked around nervously as all eyes fell upon him. "W-Well, um," he paused. "It's kind of a touchy story. Yuusei'll get really mad if I tell you guys without asking."

"I think it's important that we know Koga," urged Erio. "We won't be able to help either of you if we don't understand what's actually going on."

Caro nodded. "That's right. If we don't talk to each other, no one'll understand anything and we won't get anywhere." Motioning to Nanoha, she added, "Yuusei's mom taught us that when we were not that much older than the two of you."

"Well," Koga said no more. Staring at Nanoha, he noticed the desperation in her eyes. Guilt overtook him, causing the dark-brown-haired boy to reply, "Fine. I guess a little wouldn't hurt." Everyone leaned in as Koga began, "Yuusei only started acting like this after an incident two years ago..."

* * *

><p>Author's Notes:<p>

It's something hated in most fanfiction, but since this fic is particularly OC-drive plot-wise, I feel it necessary to do a short backstory arc on the Photon children before we proceed. It'll help with understanding the characters a lot more and getting a better feel of how everyone's connected.

In other news, I live again! I apologize profusely for how long this took to get out. I had to regain my passion for the series while deciding what would be the best way to utilize the thirteen Photon children OCs that are obviously going to have roles throughout the story (Yuusei, Alicia, Prometheus, Pandora, Koga, the-not-yet-shown Sora, and the seven remaining Photon children that have not yet been introduced) as well as how to best use the two Resonator devices that I've created. Well, thanks to that conversion, I guess Aerith's more of a special Unison Device now. Moving on-

I thank everyone for their reviews and comments. As I get more time after I graduate High School, I promise to go back and fix up these chapters. Phew, it's hard to believe I started this as a Sophomore.


	11. Memories of a Loved One

Author's Note: This portion of the story will be told from Koga's point of view and is a flashback of past events.

* * *

><p><span>Chronicle XI: Memories of a Loved One<span>

[_Two Years Ago_]

_Koga's Point of View_

I woke up early that morning at the barracks. Yuusei was actually my roommate while we were training here on the planet of Veisslan, an uninhabited world filled with monsters and horrible weather conditions. It was really cold that morning, so much so that despite being in a heated room and fully clothed, I was shivering. To be honest, I was really bored that morning, so I tried to wake Yuusei up. "Hey, Yuusei? Get up man- it's morning already," I urged.

Yuusei groaned irately and rolled over in his white-sheet bed. "Dude, leave me alone, will ya? I'm trying to sleep here," he complained.

"Aw, come on Yuusei! Please?" I begged. Our room was plain- nothing in it really. All that was really in there was our two beds, which were covered in really plain-white sheets, and two dressers with lanterns on them. Aside from that, there was little room to put much else or do much else. It might be more accurate to call the room a prison cell rather than a room.

At last, Yuusei stirred. Groaning, he lazily sat up and yawned. "Dude, not cool. What time is it anyway?"

"About 4:30," I replied.

Yuusei stared rubbed his eyes while attempting to glare at me. "If we weren't friends, I would kill you. You realize this right?"

"Oh I'm _so _scared," I teased. "Hurry up and get dressed. Maybe we can go and say hi to Ivory while we're out and about."

The auburn-haired mage immediately perked up. "That's right, the girls train at this time, don't they?" Rubbing his head to wake himself up, Yuusei asked, "Why do you think they train so early?"

I laughed a little. "Dunno, maybe it's because a certain lazy mage doesn't get out of bed by himself in the morning."

"Hey!" yelled Yuusei. We stared at each other for a moment before bursting into a fit of childish laughter. "Whatever, wanna go?"

"Well, I did offer," I replied as I opened the door to our room and ushered Yuusei out. With that, the two of us were off. We did this often since security was pretty lax in the morning. Sometimes, it was just nice to get away from it all. When we woke up, our first mission after six in the morning was to go hunt for our own breakfast. We weren't allowed to use our magic to do it and to make sure that we didn't cheat, they placed limiters on us to ensure that our magic couldn't be lethal- even if we attempted to fire as if we meant to kill something.

Strolling down the plain hallway, Yuusei and I would occasionally stop to look through the occasional glass window. It was still dark out and the snow was falling mercilessly. At this rate, we would have the misfortune of not being able to go hunting. That would probably be a good thing for a regular camping trip, but the adults here certainly weren't going to get the food for us. Now we had a decision- hope and pray the snow let up, or attempt to go into the blizzard and probably freeze to death while we search for something to kill and eat.

A voice suddenly reached our ears. "Well, if it isn't the raven brat and the devil runt!"

"Indeed," said a quiet, feminine voice.

Koga and I turned around to see two faces we were all-too familiar with. A younger Prometheus and Pandora stood before us- better known as Photon I and Photon II in that order. They were the first two experimental children to become capable of properly manipulating their inherited magic, so they were considered very special test subjects- especially to Precia. In fact, if there's anything weird about them, it's their genes. No one knows whose DNA was used to create them. That aside, because of their reputation, they were incredibly bossy and rude to everyone else. Yuusei and I were no exception. Looking Prometheus in the eye, I asked, "Shouldn't Pandora be somewhere else right now?"

Prometheus grinned mockingly. "Actually, she got out of that because they wanted to test something. It pays to be number one, y'know? But then again, I guess you don't really know anything about being number one, right? Number Fi-"

"Don't bring my number into this! My name is Koga!" I yelled.

Pandora chuckled cruelly. "Don't get mad now V, we're just playing around. Of course, if anyone's a loser here, it's XIII over there." Eyeing Yuusei with a wicked smirk, she said, "It's funny seeing as X, who isn't even here, managed to awaken her magic before you did. After her, your own sister awoke as XII. If it weren't for that, you'd be at least XII-"

"Shut up!" yelled Yuusei furiously. He and I glared at Prometheus and Pandora viciously. It was needless to say that we hated these two. Rank was everything to them and they didn't give a damn about anything else. While Yuusei had been born first, Alicia had awakened her magic first- earning her the title of being the tenth success of Project Photon of the thirteen survivors while Yuusei hadn't fully awakened his magic until recently- securing him the final slot as Photon XIII.

After a long moment of staring, Prometheus finally grew tired of us and turned around. "Come Pandora, we're leaving," he snarled.

The witch gave us a final glare before turning around with her brother and stalking off in the other direction. As we watched them leave, Yuusei and I sighed with relief. Just when we thought we were out of the woods, another voice reached our ears. "Hey guys, it's pretty early. What are the two of you doing up?" asked a girl's voice.

I nearly spun on my heel. "S-Sora?"

The dark-brown-haired girl giggled. As one might've guessed from our similar appearances- Sora and I are siblings though we don't share the exact same parents. I was also carried by a different woman to prevent Commander Yagami from finding out about my existence. Despite our more than unusual circumstances, the two of us got along pretty well. "I see you aren't fully awake yet." Strolling closer, she said, "Morning Yuusei, how're ya doing?"

Yuusei lightened up a little as he waved and said, "Morning to you too Sora. What're you doing here? Did ya skip morning practice again?"

"Nah, not today," answered Sora. "Ivory and I went to breakfast a little early so that we could swipe the good stuff." Looking around, she muttered, "But since we left the cafeteria, I've been unable to find her."

"Maybe that's because you ran off with your gigantic sugar roll," suggested a feminine voice.

"Yeah, maybe that's it," muttered Sora. The dark-brown-haired girl immediately turned around when she realized that the voice had come from behind her. Towering over her by a few inches was a beautiful young woman with long, blonde hair and crimson eyes. "I-Ivory."

Yuusei immediately made his way to his sister's side. "Good morning sis."

Ivory giggled and rubbed her little brother's hair. "Good morning Yuusei. Did you sleep well?"

Yuusei didn't answer. He was too busy soaking in the attention that his older sister often showered him with. I have to admit, I was kind of jealous of that every now and then. It didn't help that Ivory was really pretty- though I could never say that outloud. Yuusei probably would kill me if I did.

Sora cackled mischievously. "Hey, get a room if you're gonna do that," teased Sora. Sora was younger than Ivory, but for some reason she was a lot more corrupted. To this day, I still don't have an explanation for this.

The blonde girl almost immediately stopped massaging her brother''s head. "Geez, Sora!"

"Hahaha, what's the matter? It's your fault for spoiling at him." Pointing at the smiling Yuusei, she added, "I mean look at the guy! He's smiling like a complete buffoon!"

I snickered a bit. It's true- Yuusei looked pretty stupid grinning like that. Then again, that could be because his default facial expression is usually his scowl.

Ivory's laugh was really warm. She was like an older sister to our entire group, but she was the third oldest survivor of the project after Prometheus and Pandora. To Yuusei however, she was so much more. Ivory was the only family that he had and she was his only connection to his mother- who he was told to have abandoned him. Patting said mage on the head, Ivory said, "I have a mission today and I won't be back for awhile. Be good and don't make any trouble, okay?"

Yuusei looked up at her reluctantly- almost stubbornly. He was always like this. Even though Yuusei's magic was the last to awaken, it was among one of the most powerful, so he felt like it was okay for him to just tag along with Ivory wherever she went despite the danger and his lack of experience. "Can I come too?" he asked.

Sora and I sighed before snickering quietly. This was a familiar scene for us, though Yuusei's behavior during these moments actually made him look even younger than his age- nine if I recall. He and Ivory were a year apart, so she was already ten.

Ivory sighed and hugged the boy gently. "Please, just stay here. Okay?"

The auburn-haired mage seemed surprised by his sister's behavior, but he was so surprised that he just nodded his head without any argument. "O-Okay, sis. I will," he said worriedly. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

The blonde didn't really answer him, opting to hold her little brother closer. "No matter what, big sis will always love you. Never forget that, okay?"

Yuusei nodded again, noticeably frightened by his sister's words. "Wh-What's the matter Ivory? Are you okay?"

There was no answer.

"Please, say something," begged Yuusei.

No answer. All Ivory did was cling to the young mage as if it was the last time that she would ever do so.

I raised an eyebrow. _She sounds kind of tired, _I thought to myself. It was unlike Ivory to plead like this. Normally she teases Yuusei and they play around before she finally convinces him to stay where he is. "H-Hey, Ivory," I stuttered, "Are you-"

_Koga, _she said over telepathy. Getting up from the equally as surprised Yuusei, she walked away as she told me, _Take care of Yuusei for me, okay? He's a bit of a handful sometimes, but he's a good boy. _

I almost argued with her on the matter, but when she turned around, the look in her eyes stopped me. _I-Ivory-_

_Promise me, Koga, _begged Ivory.

I looked into Ivory's crimson eyes, unable to argue with her. Yuusei and I were best friends, so Ivory's strange behavior had me equally as worried; however, seeing the worry in her eyes, all I could say was, _Alright. I promise. _

Smiling, Ivory bowed to me before saying, "Thanks. I'll see you guys later!" With that, she continued down the hallway in the same direction that Prometheus and Pandora had just disappeared in.

Yuusei, Sora, and I watched Ivory's retreating form until it was well out of sight. Confusion and curiosity overtook us. Yuusei made to run after her, but I grabbed onto his shoulder. Turning around with a defiant look on his face, Yuusei said, "Let go."

I shook my head. "No can do man." I was quiet for a moment before grinning widely. "Besides, if we just follow her, she might use Sonic Move and run away!"

Yuusei's eyes lit with realization as the grin on his face began to spread wider than Captain Fate's sword. "Good point. Well then, what's the plan, Koga?"

Smirking to myself, I replied, "Simple- good and old-fashioned espionage!" Seeing Yuusei's baffled expression, I added, "Basically, we're gonna spy on her!"

The auburn-haired mage's eyes brightened considerably. "Sounds like a plan!" he cheered.

Just as we were about to shake on it, Sora put her hand over our joined hands. "Count me in too," she said. Looking more at me than Yuusei, she said, "That was a little too weird."

"Sora." I said nothing for a moment. I had little experience in leading anyone- actually, this was my first time leading anything. Leading a group wasn't something I had been trained to do, but Yuusei needed cheering up and the there of us all wanted to find out what was wrong with Ivory. Finally, I said, "Alright then, let's do this!"

"Yeah!" cheered Yuusei and Sora. With that, the three of us were off to sneakily stalk Ivory on her mission today. Little did we realize- this was the last day that we would ever see Ivory again.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes:<p>

As an apology for being gone for so long. I'll do my best to release the flashback arc as soon as possible. (Also seeing as that'll get it out of the way ASAP as well)


	12. Important Notice: PLEASE READ

**Notice of Reboot: PLEASE READ**

Hello everyone,

This is KaiserPhotos reporting live from, well, home. Anyway! I am happy to inform those who have been requesting edits to this story to be done for the sake of grammar and style among other things that a reboot is well on its way! I figured that before we move on, it may be best to improve what currently exists first.

With this reboot, I have a more clear vision for the story in mind and will be able to proceed with a hopefully more entertaining and complete storyline to share with you all. The chapters will also be a bit longer. This will be done to capture the length of a full anime episode. Some important things that should be made clear are as follows:

1. This story now takes place 14 years after the Eclipse Incident (Force), so Nanoha and Fate are both 39 as of this story. The main storyline for the most part has not been changed. Most of the reboot is a bunch of grammar improvements, style improvements, and improved consistency between what I use from the real canon and my own canon. Things like making up my own magic system (as you my readers all saw) will be removed in favor of simply applying existing mechanics in more creative ways. I'm sure this will please fans both new and old.

2. Just to give exact details, this is an alternate timeline with made up endings for the canon Vivid and Force arcs, which have not actually ended; therefore, certain events to fill in the gaps between now and those time periods along with endings to both arcs have been made up and should not be taken as actual canon material. A quick example: most of the Hückebein were killed during the events Force in this canon (This is a change made from the currently existing storyline where the Hückebein are all alive. The Grendels now have this position for reasons I can't give away right now).

With these pieces of information in mind, I need advice from you, my readers.

Please submit a vote on whether the reboot be posted as its own separate entity or whether I should simply update and re-format the content that current exists (as this preserves the already existing reviews for the story). You'll see the options when you visit my profile. If you want your opinion heard, PLEASE cast a vote.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't be afraid to drop me a message or post your comment in a review.

With that, I bid you all adieu.

KaiserPhotos, signing off!


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